WOMAN 


VOLUME  I 

GREEK    WOMEN 

BY 

MITCHELL    CARROLL,  PH.D. 

PROFESSOR    OF    CLASSICAL    PHILOLOGY   IN    THE   GEORGE 
WASHINGTON    UNIVERSITY 


EDITION   DE    LUXE 


Limited  to  One  Thousand  Numbered  Copies 
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Woman 

In  all  ages  and  in  all  countries 

VOLUME  I 


GREEK  WOMEN 


BY 


MITCHELL    CARROLL,  PH.D. 

Professor  of  Classical  Philology  in  the  George  Washington  University 


ILLUSTRATED 


PHILADELPHIA 

GEORGE   EARRIE  &  SONS,  PUBLISHERS 


COPYRIGHT,  1907,  BY  GEORGE  BARRIE  &  SONS 
Entered  at  Stationers'  Hall,  London 


^General  Introduction 


2047589 


GENERAL  INTRODUCTION 

The  history  of  woman  is  the  history  of  the  world.  Strait 
orthodoxy  may  remind  us  that  man  preceded  woman  in  the 
scheme  of  creation  and  that  therefore  history  does  not  begin 
with  woman;  but  this  is  a  specious  plea.  The  first  historical 
information  that  we  gain  regarding  Adam  is  concerned  with 
the  creation  of  woman,  and  there  is  nothing  to  show  us  that 
prior  to  that  time  Adam  was  more  active  in  mind  or  even  in 
body  than  a  mollusc.  It  was  not  until  the  coming  of  woman 
that  history  began  to  exist;  and  if  the  first  recorded  act  of 
the  woman  was  disastrous  in  its  consequences,  at  least  it 
possesses  the  distinction  of  making  history.  So  that  it  may 
well  be  said  that  all  that  we  are  we  owe  to  woman.  Whether 
or  not  the  story  of  the  Garden  of  Eden  is  to  be  implicitly  ac- 
cepted, there  can  be  no  doubt  that  from  the  moment  of  the 
first  appearance  of  mankind  on  the  scene  woman  has  been 
the  ruling  cause  of  all  effect. 

The  record  of  woman  is  one  of  extremes.  There  is  an 
average  woman,  but  she  has  not  been  found  except  in 
theory.  The  typical  woman,  as  she  is  seen  in  the  pages  of 
history,  is  either  very  good  or  very  bad.  We  find  women 
saints  and  we  find  women  demons;  but  we  rarely  find  a. 
mean.  Herein  is  a  cardinal  distinction  between  the  sexes. 
The  man  of  history  is  rarely  altogether  good  or  evil;  he  has  a 
distinct  middle  ground,  in  which  we  are  most  apt  to  find  him 

vii 


Vlli  WOMAN 

in  his  truest  aspect.  There  are  exceptions,  and  many;  but 
this  may  be  taken  as  a  rule.  Even  in  the  instances  of  the 
best  and  noblest  men  of  whom  we  have  record  this  rule  will 
hold.  Saint  Peter  was  bold  and  cautious,  brave  and  cow- 
ardly, loving  and  a  traitor;  Saint  Paul  was  boastful  and 
meek,  tender  and  severe;  Saint  John  cognised  beyond  all 
others  the  power  of  love,  and  wished  to  call  down  fire  from 
heaven  upon  a  village  which  refused  to  hear  the  Gospel;  and 
it  is  most  probable  that  the  true  Peter  and  Paul  and  John  lived 
between  these  extremes.  Not  so  with  the  women  of  the  same 
story.  They  were  throughout  consistent  with  themselves;  they 
were  utterly  pure  and  holy,  as  Mary  Magdalene, — to  whose 
character  great  wrong  has  been  done  in  the  past  by  careless 
commentary, — or  utterly  vile,  as  Herodias.  Extremism  is 
a  chief  feminine  characteristic.  Extremist  though  she  be, 
woman  is  always  consistent  in  her  extremes;  hence  her 
power  for  good  and  for  evil. 

It  is  a  mistaken  idea  which  places  the  "emancipation  "  of 
woman  at  a  late  date  in  the  -world's  history.  From  time 
immemorial,  woman  has  been  actively  engaged  in  guiding  the 
destinies  of  mankind.  It  is  true  that  the  advent  of  Chris- 
tianity undoubtedly  broadened  the  sphere  of  woman  and  that 
she  was  then  given  her  true  place  as  the  companion  and  helper 
rather  than  the  toy  of  man;  but  long  before  this  period  woman 
had  asserted  her  right  to  be  heard  in  the  councils  of  the  wise, 
and  the  right  seems  to  have  been  conceded  in  the  cases  where 
the  demand  was  made.  Those  who  look  upon  the  present 
as  the  emancipation  period  in  the  history  of  woman  have 
surely  forgotten  Deborah,  whose  chant  of  triumph  was  sung 
in  the  congregation  of  the  people  and  was  considered  worthy 
of  preservation  for  all  future  ages  to  read;  Semiramis,  who 
led  her  armies  to  battle  when  the  Great  King,  Ninus,  had  let 
fall  the  sceptre  from  his  weary  hand,  and  who  ruled  her  people 
with  wisdom  and  justice;  and  others  whose  fame,  even  if 


GENERAL  INTRODUCTION  ix 

legendary  in  its  details,  has  come  down  to  us.  Through  all  the 
ages  there  was  opportunity  for  woman,  when  she  chose  to  seiqe 
it;  and  in  many  cases  it  was  thus  seized.  Rarely  indeed  do 
we  find  the  history  of  any  age  unconcerned  with  its  women. 
Though  their  part  may  at  times  seem  but  minor,  yet  do  they 
stand  out  to  the  observant  eye  as  the  prime  causes  of  many 
of  the  great  events  which  make  or  mark  epochs.  When  we 
think  of  the  Trojan  War,  it  is  Agamemnon  and  Priam, 
Achilles  and  Hector,  who  rise  up  before  our  mental  -vision 
as  the  protagonists  in  that  great  struggle;  but  if  there  had 
been  no  Helen,  there  would  have  been  no  war,  and  therefore 
no  Iliad  or  Odyssey.  We  read  Macaulay's  stirring  ballad 
of  Horatius  at  the  Bridge,  and  we  thrill  at  the  recital  of 
strength  and  daring;  but  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  virtue 
of  Lucretia,  there  would  have  been  no  combat  for  the  bridge, 
and  the  Tarquins  might  have  ended  their  days  in  peace  in  the 
Eternal  City.  And,  in  later  times,  though  Mirabeau  and 
Robespierre  and  Danton  and  Marat  fill  the  eye  of  the  student 
of  the  cataclysmic  events  of  the  French  Revolution,  it  was  the 
folly  of  Marie  Antoinette  that  gave  these  men  their  oppor- 
tunity and  even  paved  the  way  for  the  rise  and  meteoric 
career  of  a  greater  than  them  all. 

These  are  instances  of  mediate  influence  upon  great  events; 
but  there  have  been  many  women  who  have  exerted  immediate 
influence  upon  the  story  of  mankind.  That  which  is  usually 
mistermed  weakness  is  generally  held  to  be  a  feminine  attri- 
bute; and  if  we  replace  the  term  by  the  truer  word, — gentle- 
ness,— the  statement  may  be  conceded.  But  there  have  been 
many  women  who  have  been  strong  in  the  general  sense;  and 
these  have  usually  been  terribly  strong.  Look  at  Catherine 
of  Russia,  vicious  to  the  core,  but  powerful  in  intellect  and 
will  above  the  standard  of  masculine  rulers.  Look  at  Eli^a- 
beth  of  England,  crafty  and  false,  full  of  a  ridiculous  vanity, 
yet  strong  with  a  strength  before  which  even  such  men  as 


X  WOMAN 

Burleigh  and  Essex  and  Leicester  were  compelled  to  bow. 
Look  at  Margaret  of  Lancaster,  fighting  in  her  husband's 
stead  for  the  crown  of  England  and  by  her  undaunted  spirit 
plucking  victory  again  and  again  from  the  jaws  of  defeat, 
and  yielding  at  last  only  when  deserted  by  every  adherent. 
Look  at  Clytemnestra  and  Lady  Macbeth,  creatures  of  the 
poet's  fancy  if  you  will,  yet  true  types  of  a  class  of  femi- 
ninity. They  have  had  prototypes  and  antitypes,  and  many. 

Women  have  achieved  their  most  decisive  and  remark- 
able effects  upon  the  history  of  mankind  by  reaching  and 
clinging  to  extremes.  Extremism  is  always  a  mark  of  en- 
thusiasm, and  enthusiasm  accomplishes  effects  which  must 
have  been  left  forever  unattained  by  mere  regulated  and  con- 
scientious effort.  The  stories  of  the  Christian  martyrs  show 
in  golden  letters  the  devotion  of  women  to  a  cause;  and  I 
have  no  doubt  whatever  that  it  was  in  the  deaths  of  young 
maidens,  in  their  hideous  sufferings  borne  with  resignation 
and  even  joy,  that  there  came  the  conviction  of  truth  which 
is  known  as  the  seed  which  was  sown  in  the  blood  of  the 
martyrs.  The  high  enthusiasm  which  supported  a  Catherine 
and  a  Cecilia  in  their  hours  of  trial  was  strong  to  persuade, 
where  the  death  of  a  man  for  his  convictions  would  have 
been  looked  upon  as  a  matter  of  course.  It  is  from  this 
enthusiasm  and  extremism  that  there  sounds  one  of  the  key- 
notes of  woman's  nature — her  loyalty.  Loyalty  is  one  of 
the  blending  traits  of  the  sexes;  yet,  if  I  were  compelled 
to  attribute  it  distinctively  to  one  sex,  I  should  class  it  as 
feminine  in  its  nature. 

Loyalty  to  one  idea,  to  one  ideal,  has  been  a  predominant 
characteristic  of  woman  from  time  immemorial.  Sometimes 
this  loyalty  takes  the  form  of  patriotism,  sometimes  of  altru- 
ism, sometimes  of  piety  in  true  sense;  but  always  it  has  its 
origin  and  life  in  love.  The  love  may  be  diffused  or  concen- 
trated, general  or  particular,  but  it  is  always  the  soul  of  the 


GENERAL  INTRODUCTION  xi 

true  woman,  and  without  it  she  cannot  live.  Love  for  her 
God,  love  for  her  race,  love  for  her  country,  love  for  the  man 
whom  she  delights  to  honor — these  may  exist  separately  or 
as  one,  but  exist  for  her  they  must,  or  her  life  is  barren 
and  her  soul  but  a  dead  thing.  Love,  in  the  true  sense  of 
the  word,  is  the  essence  of  the  woman-soul;  it  is  the  soul 
itself.  She  must  love,  or  she  is  dead,  however  she  may  seem 
to  live.  That  she  does  not  always  ask  whether  the  object 
of  her  love,  be  it  abstract  or  concrete,  be  worthy  of  her  devo- 
tion is  not  to  be  attributed  to  her  as  a  fault,  but  rather  as  a 
virtue,  since  the  love  itself  expands  and  vivifies  her  soul  if 
itself  be  worthy.  It  is  at  once  the  expression  and  the  ex- 
penditure of  the  unsounded  depths  of  her  soul;  it  is  through 
its  power  over  her  that  she  recognises  her  own  nature,  that 
she  knows  herself  for  what  she  is.  The  woman  who  has  not 
loved,  even  in  the  ordinary  human  and  limited  meaning  of 
the  word,  has  no  conception  of  her  own  soul. 

Thus  far  I  have  spoken  of  love  in  its  broad  sense,  as  the 
highest  impulse  of  the  human  soul.  But  there  is  another  and 
a  lower  aspect  of  love,  and  this  is  the  one  most  usually  meant 
when  we  use  the  word, — the  attraction  of  sex.  Even  thus, 
though  in  this  aspect  love  becomes  a  far  lesser  thing,  it  pos- 
sesses no  less  power.  The  passion  of  man  for  woman  has 
been  the  underlying  cause  of  all  history  in  its  phenomenal 
aspects.  The  favorite  example  of  this  power  has  always  been 
that  of  Cleopatra  and  Mark  Antony;  but  history  is  full  of 
equally  convincing  instances. 

To  love  and  to  be  loved;  such  is  the  ultimate  lot  of  woman. 
It  matters  not  what  accessories  of  existence  fate  may  have  to 
offer;  this  is  the  supreme  meaning  of  life  to  woman,  and  it 
is  here  that  she  finds  her  true  value  in  the  world.  She  may 
read  that  meaning  in  divers  manners;  she  may  make  of  her 
place  in  life  a  curse  or  a  blessing  to  mankind.  It  matters 
not;  all  returns  to  the  same  cause,  the  same  source  of  power. 


xii  WOMAN 

The  strongest  woman  is  weak  if  she  be  not  loved,  for  she  lacks 
her  chief  weapon  with  which  to  conquer;  the  weakest  is  strong 
if  she  truly  have  won  love,  for  through  this  she  can  work 
miracles.  Her  strength  is  more  than  doubled;  heart  and 
brain  and  hand  are  in  equal  measure,  for  that  with  which 
the  heart  inspires  the  brain  will  be  transmitted  by  the  latter 
to  the  hand,  and  the  message  will  be  too  imperative  to  find 
failure. 

It  is  a  strange  thing — though  not  inexplicable — that  your 
ambitious  woman  is  far  more  ruthless,  far  more  unscrupu- 
lous, far  more  determined  to  win  at  any  cost,  than  is  the  most 
ambitious  of  men.  Again  comes  the  law  of  extreme  to  show 
cause  that  this  should  be;  but  the  fact  is  so  sure  that  cause 
is  of  less  interest.  Not  Machiavelli  was  so  false,  not  Calig- 
ula was  so  cruel,  not  Caesar  was  so  careless  of  right,  as  the 
woman  whose  political  ambition  has  taken  form  and  strength. 
That  which  bars  her  path  must  be  swept  aside,  be  it  man  or 
notion  or  principle.  She  sees  but  the  one  object,  her  goal, 
looming  large  before  her;  and  she  moves  on  with  her  eyes 
fixed,  crushing  beneath  her  feet  all  that  would  turn  her  steps. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  cruelty  of  an  ambitious  woman;  and 
it  is  worth  while  to  pause  a  moment  to  consider  this  trait  as 
displayed  in  women — not  as  a  means,  but  as  an  end.  There 
have  been  men  who  loved  cruelty  for  its  own  sake;  but  they 
are  few,  and  their  methods  crude,  compared  with  the  women 
who  have  felt  this  strange  passion.  In  the  days  of  human 
sacrifices,  it  was  the  women  who  most  thronged  to  the  specta- 
cles, who  most  eagerly  fastened  their  eyes  upon  the  expiring 
victims.  In  the  gladiatorial  combats,  it  was  the  women  who 
greeted  each  mortal  thrust  with  applause,  and  whose  reversed 
thumbs  won  the  majority  for  the  signal  of  death  to  the  van- 
quished. In  the  days  of  terror  in  France,  it  was  the  women 
who  led  the  mob  that  threatened  the  king  and  queen,  and 
hanged  Foulard  to  a  lamp  post  after  almost  tearing  him  to 


GENERAL  INTRODUCTION  xiii 

pieces;  it  was  the  women  who  sat  in  rows  around  the  guillo- 
tine, day  after  day,  and  placidly  knit  their  terrible  records 
of  death;  it  was  the  women  who  cried  for  more  victims,  even 
after  the  legal  murderers  of  the  tribunals  grew  weary  of  their 
hideous  task  of  condemnation. 

Not  only  thus — not  only  under  the  influence  of  excitement 
and  passion — but  in  cold  blood,  there  are  instances  among 
women  of  such  ghastly  cruelty  that  men  recoil  from  the  con- 
templation of  such  deeds.  There  is  record  of  a  Slavonic 
countess  whose  favorite  amusement  was  to  sit  in  the  garden 
of  her  country  palace,  in  the  rigors  of  a  Russian  winter, 
while  young  girls  were  stripped  by  her  attendants  and  water 
poured  slowly  over  their  bodies,  thus  giving  them  a  death  of 
enduring  agony  and  providing  the  countess  with  new,  though 
unsubstantial,  statues  for  her  grounds.  This  not  more  than 
two  centuries  ago,  and  in  the  atmosphere  of  so-termed  Chris- 
tianity. The  annals  of  the  Spanish  Inquisition  would  be 
ransacked  in  vain  for  such  ingenuity  of  torture;  and  though 
the  Inquisitors  may  have  grown  to  love  cruelty  for  its  own 
sake,  they  at  least  alleged  reason  for  their  deeds;  the  Russian 
countess  frankly  sought  amusement  alone. 

Yet  in  these  things  there  is  to  be  found  no  general  accusa- 
tion of  women.  That  cruelty  should  be  carried  by  them  to 
its  extreme,  that  they  should  love  it  for  its  own  sake,  is  but 
the  development  of  extremism,  and  is  isolated  in  examples, 
at  least  by  periods.  The  Russian  countess  was  not  cruel 
because  she  was  a  woman,  but,  being  cruel  of  nature,  she 
was  the  more  so  because  of  her  sex.  The  ladies  of  imperial 
Rome  did  not  love  the  sight  of  flowing  blood  because  they  were 
women,  but,  being  women,  they  carried  their  acquired  taste  to 
bounds  unknown  to  the  less  impulsive  and  less  ardent  nature 
of  men. 

Yet  there  comes  a  question.  Is  this  lust  for  blood,  this 
love  of  cruelty,  latent  in  every  woman  and  but  restrained  by 


XIV  WOMAN 

the  gentler  teachings  and  promptings  of  her  more  developed 
nature  in  its  highest  presentation?  So  some  psychists  would 
have  us  believe;  but  they  have  only  slight  ground  for  their 
sweeping  assertion.  That  civilisation  is  but  restrained  sav- 
agery may  perhaps  be  conceded;  but  if  the  restraint  has  grown 
to  be  the  ever-dominant  impulse,  then  has  the  savage  been 
slain.  It  is  not,  as  some  teach,  that  such  isolated  idiosyn- 
crasies as  we  have  considered  are  glimpses  of  the  tiger  that 
sleeps  in  every  human  heart  and  sometimes  breaks  its  chain 
and  runs  riot.  As  a  rule,  these  things  are  matters  of  atmos- 
phere. Setting  aside  such  pure  isolations  as  that  of  the 
Russian  countess,  it  will  almost  invariably  be  found  that 
the  display  of  feminine  cruelty,  or  of  any  vice,  is  of  a  time 
and  place.  There  has  never  been  a  universal  rule  of  feminine 
depravity  in  any  age.  Babylon,  Carthage,  Greece,  Rome,  and 
all  the  olden  civilisations  have  had  their  periods  when  female 
virtue  was  a  matter  of  laughter,  when  women  outvied  men  in 
their  moral  degradation,  when  evil  seemed  triumphant  every- 
where; but  there  always  remained  a  few  to  "redeem  the 
time,"  and  salvation  always  came  from  those  few.  More- 
over, the  sphere  of  immorality  and  crime  was  always  limited. 
The  Roman  world,  when  it  was  the  world  indeed,  might  be 
given  up  to  vice  and  sin,  displayed  in  their  most  atrocious 
forms  by  the  women  of  the  Empire;  but  there  still  stood  the 
North,  calm,  virtuous,  patient,  awaiting  its  opportunity  to 
"root  out  the  evil  thing"  and  to  give  the  world  once  more  a 
standard  of  purity  and  righteousness.  The  leaven  of  Chris- 
tianity was  effective  in  its  work  upon  the  moral  degradation 
of  the  Roman  Empire;  but  it  was  not  until  the  scourge  of  the 
Northmen  was  sent  to  the  aid  of  the  principle  that  success 
was  fully  won.  So  the  North  was  not  of  the  same  day  with 
Rome  in  civilised  vice,  and  the  reign  of  evil  in  the  Latin 
Empire  was  but  the  effect  of  conditions,  not  the  instincts  of 
humanity.  Rome  was  taught  evil  by  long  and  steadfast 


GENERAL  INTRODUCTION  XV 

evolution;  it  did  not  spring  up  in  a  day  with  its  deadly 
blight,  but  was  the  result  of  progressive  causation. 

It  may  be  doubted  if  the  feminine  intelkct  has  increased 
since  the  dawn  of  civilisation.  To-day  woman  stands  on  a 
different  plane  of  recognition,  but  by  reason  of  assertiveness, 
not  because  of  increased  mental  ability.  As  with  that  of 
man,  the  possibilities  of  woman's  intelkct  were  long  latent; 
but  they  existed,  and  the  result  is  development,  not  creation 
of  fibre.  I  repeat  that  I  do  not  believe  that  the  feminine  intel- 
lect has  grown  in  power.  /  doubt  if  tlie  present  age  can  show 
a  mind  superior  in  natural  strength  to  that  of  Sappho;  I  do 
not  believe  that  the  present  Empress  of  China,  strong  woman 
as  she  is,  is  greater  than  Semiramis,  or  that  even  Elizabeth 
of  England  was  the  equal  of  the  warrior-queen  of  Babylon. 
But  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  there  exists  a  broader  culture 
to-day  than  ever  before  and  that  thus  the  intellectual  sum  of 
women  is  always  growing,  though  there  comes  no  increase  in 
the  mental  powers  of  the  individual.  It  has  been  so  with 
man.  We  boast  of  the  mighty  achievements  of  our  age;  but 
we  have  not  yet  built  such  a  structure  as  that  of  the  Temple 
of  the  Sun  at  Baalbec,  or  the  Pyramid  of  Cheops  at  Ghi^eh. 
We  pride  ourselves  upon  our  letters;  but  the  grandest  poem 
ever  written  by  man  was  also  the  first  of  which  we  have 
record — the  Book  of  Job,  and  we  do  not  even  know  the  name 
of  the  poet  who  thus  set  a  standard  which  has  never  since  been 
reached.  We  may  claim  Shakespeare  as  the  equal  of  Homer 
in  expression;  but  it  requires  true  hero  worship  among  his  ad- 
mirers to  place  the  Elizabethan  singer  upon  an  equality  with 
the  old  Greek  in  any  other  respect.  There  has  been  no  growth 
of  individual  intellect  in  either  sex  since  the  days  of  which 
we  first  find  record;  but  there  has  been  an  increase  of  average 
and  a  definition  of  tendency  which  are  productive  of  higher 
general  result.  And  the  natural  consequence  of  this  state  of 
things  is  found  in  the  fact  that  even  a  Sappho  in  the  world 


xvi  WOMAN 

of  letters  would  not  stand  out  so  prominently,  would  not  be 
considered  such  a  prodigy,  were  she  to  come  in  these  days. 
We  should  admire  her  genius  and  her  powers  without  feeling 
the  sensation  of  wonder  that  these  should  be  possessed  by  a 
woman.  It  is  in  the  recognition  of  this  fact  that  we  are  better 
enabled  to  understand  the  changing  aspect  in  the  relations 
of  women  to  men  during  these  latter  years.  There  has  been 
no  alteration  in  the  possibilities  within  the  grasp  of  the  indi- 
vidual, but  great  change  within  those  which  can  be  claimed  by 
the  sex  at  large.  Women  can  do  no  more  now  than  in  the  olden 
days  when  they  were  considered  as  almost  inferior  to  animals; 
but  woman  has  profited  by  the  opportunities  of  her  time,  and 
is  every  day  developing  powers  until  now  unsuspected. 

The  whole  value  of  history  is  in  teaching  us  to  understand 
our  own  time  and  to  prognosticate  the  future  with  some  de- 
gree of  correctness.  More  especially  is  this  true  of  all  class 
history,  and  the  story  of  sex  development  may  be  so  rated.  It 
is  to  find  the  reason  of  what  is  and  the  nature  of  what  is  to 
come  that  we  turn  to  the  records  of  the  past  and  ask  them 
concerning  their  message  to  us  of  these  things.  In  our  retro- 
spective view  of  woman,  we  shall,  if  we  are  alive  to  suggestion, 
find  steadfast  tendencies  of  development.  It  is  true  that  these 
tendencies  do  not  always  remain  in  the  light;  like  rivers,  they 
sometimes  plunge  underground  and  for  a  time  find  their  paths 
in  subterranean  channels  where  they  are  lost  to  sight;  but  they 
always  reemerge,  and  at  last  they  find  their  way  to  the  cen- 
tral sea  of  the  present.  Future  ages  will  doubtless  mark  the 
course  of  those  tendencies  not  only  up  to  but  through  our  own 
age;  for  though  I  have  spoken  of  a  central  sea,  the  simile  is 
hardly  correct,  inasmuch  as  the  true  ocean  which  is  the  goal 
of  these  rivers  is  not  yet  in  the  sight  of  humanity.  But  we  at 
least  find  promise  of  that  ocean  in  the  steadfast  and  deter- 
mined course  of  the  streams  which  flow  toward  it;  progress 
has  always  a  goal,  though  it  may  be  one  long  undiscerned 


GENERAL  INTRODUCTION  xvii 

by  the  abettors  of  that  progress.  So  it  is  with  the  story  of 
woman.  We  know  what  she  has  been;  we  see  what  she  is; 
and  it  is  possible  dimly  to  forecast  what  she  will  be.  Yet  I 
dare  to  assert  that  there  will  be  no  radical  change;  there  may 
be  new  direction  for  effort,  new  lines  of  development,  but  the 
essential  nature  will  remain  unaltered.  It  is  not,  however, 
with  this  informing  spirit  that  we  have  to  do  in  such  a  work 
as  this.  There  have  been  many  misconceptions  regarding 
woman;  I  would  not  venture  to  claim  that  none  now  exist. 
Yet  there  is  a  general  consensus  of  agreement  concerning  her 
dominating  and  effective  characteristics,  and  the  probability  is 
that  in  these  general  laws  so  laid  down  the  common  opinion 
is  of  truth. 

Of  course,  I  would  not  dare  to  make  such  an  absurd  claim 
that  there  exists,  or  has  ever  existed,  a  man  who  could  truth- 
fully say  that  he  knew  woman  in  the  abstract;  but  that  does 
not  necessarily  mean  that  knowledge  of  the  tendencies  and 
characteristics  of  the  sex  is  impossible.  The  reason  of  the 
dense  ignorance  which  prevails  among  men  concerning  women 
is  that  the  men  attempt  to  apply  general  laws  to  particular 
cases;  and  that  is  fatal.  It  is  absolutely  necessary,  if  we 
are  to  gather  wisdom  and  not  merely  knowledge  from  our 
researches  in  history,  that  we  should  take  into  account  the 
result  of  combination  of  traits.  Otherwise  we  should  not  only 
find  nothing  but  inconsistency  as  a  consequence  of  our  study, 
but  we  should  utterly  fail  to  understand  the  tendencies  of 
that  which  we  learn.  We  must  be  broad  in  our  judgments, 
if  we  are  to  judge  truly.  When  we  read  of  the  Spartan 
women  sending  forth  their  sons  to  die  for  their  country,  we 
must  not  believe  that  they  were  lacking  in  the  depth  of 
maternal  affection  which  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  char- 
acteristics of  the  feminine  nature.  Doubtless  they  suffered  as 
keenly  as  does  the  modern  mother  at  the  death  of  her  son;  but 
they  were  trained  to  subordinate  their  feelings  in  this  wiset 


xviii  WOMAN 

and  their  training  stood  them  in  stead  of  stoicism.  Nay,  even 
when  we  read  of  the  profligacy  of  the  women  of  imperial  Rome, 
we  must  not  look  upon  these  women  as  by  nature  imbruted 
and  degraded,  but  we  must  understand  that  they  but  yielded 
to  the  spirit  of  their  environment  and  their  schooling.  They 
were  not  different  at  heart,  those  reckless  Mcenads  and  vota- 
ries of  Venus,  from  the  chaste  Lucretias  or  holy  Catherines 
of  another  day;  they  simply  lacked  direction  of  impulse  in 
right  method,  and  so  missed  the  culmination  of  their  highest 
possibilities. 

There  is  an  old  saying  which  tells  us  that  women  are  what 
men  make  them.  Thus  generally  stated,  the  saying  may  be 
summed  up  as  a  slander;  but  it  has  an  application  in  his- 
tory. There  can  be  no  doubt  that  for  millenniums  of  the 
world 's  adolescence  women  were  controlled  and  their  bearing 
and  place  in  society  modified  by  the  thought  of  their  times, 
which  thought  was  of  masculine  origin  and  formation.  This 
state  of  affairs  has  long  since  passed  away,  and  it  may  be 
said  that  for  at  least  a  thousand  years,  in  adaptation  of  the 
saying  which  I  have  quoted,  the  times  have  been  what  women 
have  made  them.  It  was  the  influence  of  women  which 
brought  about  the  outgrowths  of  civilisation  in  the  dawn  of 
Christianity  that  have  survived  until  now.  It  was  the  influ- 
ence, if  not  the  actual  activity,  of  women  that  was  responsible 
for  the  birth  of  chivalry  and  the  rise  of  the  spirit  of  purity. 
It  was  the  influence  of  women  that  made  possible  such  char- 
acters as  those  of  Bayard  and  Sir  Philip  Sydney.  It  was  the 
influence  of  women  that  softened  the  roughness  and  licentious- 
ness of  a  past  day  into  the  refinement  and  virtue  which  are 
the  possessions  of  the  present  age. 

There  has  always,  in  the  worst  days,  been  an  undercur- 
rent of  good,  and  its  source  and  strength  are  to  be  found  in 
the  eternal  feminine  spirit,  which  in  its  true  aspects  always 
makes  for  righteousness. 


GENERAL  INTRODUCTION  XIX 

The  world's  statues  have,  with  few  exceptions,  been  raised 
to  men,  the  world's  elegies  have  been  sung  of  men,  the  world's 
acclamations  have  been  given  to  men.  This  is  world  justice, 
blind  as  well  as  with  bandaged  eyes.  Were  true  justice  done 
— were  the  best  results,  the  results  which  live,  commemorated 
in  stone,  the  world  itself,  to  adapt  the  hyperbole  of  the  Evan- 
gelist, could  hardly  contain  the  statues  which  would  be  reared 
to  women.  But  it  is  precisely  in  the  cause  for  this  neglect 
that  there  lies  the  value  of  the  work  which  has  been  done  by 
woman  for  the  welfare  of  mankind.  It  is  one  of  the  truths 
of  history  that  the  greatest  and  most  enduring  effects  have 
always  been  accomplished  in  the  least  conspicuous  manner. 

The  man  who  searches  effect  for  cause  must  find  his  goal 
most  often  in  the  influence  of  a  woman.  Not  always  for 
good;  that  could  not  be.  But  it  would  seem  that  all  that 
has  endured  has  been  for  good,  and  that  the  evil  which  has 
been  wrought  by  woman — and  it  has  not  been  slight — has  been 
ephemeral  in  all  respects.  I  know  of  no  enduring  evil  that 
can  be  traced  to  a  woman  as  its  source;  but  I  know  of  no 
constant  good  which  did  not  find  either  its  beginning  or  its 
fostering  in  a  woman 's  thought  or  work.  Poppcea  leaves  but 
a  name;  Agrippina  leaves  an  example.  It  may  be  true  of 
men  that  the  evil  that  they  do  lives  after  them,  while  the  good 
is  oft  interred  with  their  bones;  but  it  is  not  true  of  women. 
Of  course,  there  is  a  sense  in  which  it  is  true — in  the  descent 
from  mother  to  son  of  the  spirit  of  the  unrighteous  mother; 
but  even  this  would  not  seem  to  hold  as  a  rule,  and  the  effects 
are  often  modified  by  the  influence  of  a  love  for  a  higher 
nature.  The  sum  of  woman's  influence  upon  the  destinies 
of  the  world  is  good,  the  balance  inclines  steadily  toward  the 
best.  Woman  is  the  hope  of  the  world. 

It  is  to  find  the  persistence  of  this  influence  that  we  search 
her  history.  Sometimes  we  shall  find  strange  factors  in  the 
equation  that  gives  the  sum,  strange  methods  of  attaining 


X*  WOMAN 

the  result;  but  the  result  itself  is  always  plain.  Nor  is  there 
ever  entire  lack  of  contemporary  influence  of  good,  even  when 
the  evil  seems  predominant.  If  we  read  of  an  Argive  Helen 
bringing  war  and  desolation  upon  a  nation,  we  shall  find  in 
those  same  pages  record  of  a  Penelope  teaching  the  world  the 
beauty  of  faith  and  constancy.  If  we  trace  the  story  of  a 
Cleopatra  ruining  men  with  a  smile,  we  shall  find  in  the 
same  day  an  Octavia  and  a  Portia.  If  we  hear  of  the  Capitol 
betrayed  by  a  Tarpeia,  we  have  not  far  to  seek  for  a  Cornelia, 
known  to  all  time  as  the  Mother  of  the  Gracchi.  And  it  is 
those  who  made  for  good  whose  names  have  come  down  to  us 
as  incentives  and  examples.  The  more  closely  we  read  our 
history,  the  more  surely  are  we  convinced  that  the  tendency 
has  always  been  upward;  the  progress  has  been  steadfast 
from  the  beginning,  and  it  has  carried  the  world  with  it. 

As  I  began  with  the  statement  that  the  history  of  woman 
is  the  history  of  the  world,  so  I  end.  This  truth  at  least  is 
sure.  The  earth  is  very  old;  it  has  seen  the  coming  and  the 
going  of  many  races,  it  has  witnessed  the  rise  and  fall  of  un- 
counted dynasties,  it  has  survived  physical  and  social  cata- 
clysms innumerable;  and  it  still  holds  on  its  way,  serenely 
awaiting  its  end  in  the  purpose  of  its  Creator.  What  that 
end  shall  be  no  man  may  know;  but  it  is  the  end  to  which 
woman  shall  lead  it. 

G.  C.  L. 

Johns  Hopkins  University. 


preface 


PREFACE 

IT  is  the  purpose  of  tnis  volume  to  give  a  simple  sketch 
of  the  history  of  Greek  womanhood  from  the  Heroic  Age 
down  to  Roman  times,  so  far  as  it  can  be  gathered  from 
ancient  Greek  literature  and  from  other  available  sources 
for  a  knowledge  of  antique  life.  Greek  civilization  was 
essentially  a  masculine  one;  and  it  is  really  remarkable  how 
scant  are  the  references  to  feminine  life  in  Greek  writers, 
and  how  few  books  have  been  written  by  modem  scholars 
on  this  subject.  In  the  preparation  of  this  work,  the  author 
has  consulted  all  the  authorities  bearing  on  old  Greek  life, 
acknowledgment  of  which  can  only  be  made  in  general 
terms.  He  feels,  however,  particularly  indebted  to  the 
following  works:  Mile.  Clarisse  Bader,  La  Femme  Grecque, 
Paris,  1872;  Jos.  Cal.  Poestion,  Griechische  Philosophin- 
nen,  Norden,  1885;  ibid.,  Griechische  Dichterinnen,  Leipzig, 
1876;  E.  Notor,  La  Femme  dans  I' Antiquite  Grecque,  Paris, 
1901;  R.  Lallier,  De  la  Condition  de  la  Femme  Athenienne 
au  ye  et  au  IVe  Siecle,  Paris,  1875;  IVQ  Bruns,  Frauen- 
emancipation  in  Athen,  Kiel,  1900;  Walter  Copeland  Perry, 
The  Women  of  Homer,  New  York,  1898;  Albert  Galloway 
Keller,  Homeric  Society,  London,  1902;  and  Mahaffy's  vari- 
ous works,  especially  Social  Life  in  Greece  from  Homer  to 
Menander,  and  Greek  Life  and  Thought.  In  making  quota- 
tions from  Greek  authors,  standard  translations  have  been 

xxiii 


xxiv  WOMAN 

used,  of  which  especial  acknowledgment  cannot  always 
be  given,  but  Lang,  Leaf  and  Myers'  Iliad,  Butcher's  and 
Lang's  Odyssey,  Wharton's  Sappho,  and  Way's  Euripides, 
call  for  particular  mention. 

In  the  spelling  of  Greek  proper  names  the  author  has 
endeavored  to  adapt  himself  to  the  convenience  of  his 
readers  by  being  consistently  Roman,  and  has  used  in 
most  cases  the  Latin  forms.  He  has  retained,  however, 
the  Greek  forms  where  usage  has  made  them  current,  as 
Poseidon,  Lesbos,  Samos,  etc.,  and  has  invariably  adopted 
forms,  neither  Greek  nor  Latin,  which  have  become  uni- 
versal, as  Athens,  Constantinople,  Rhodes,  and  the  like. 
The  Greek  names  of  Greek  divinities  have  been  preferred 
to  their  Roman  equivalents. 

To  conclude,  my  thanks  are  due  to  the  publishers  for 
their  uniform  courtesy  and  help,  and  to  Mr.  J.  A.  Burgan 
for  the  careful  reading  of  the  proof;  nor  could  I  have 
undertaken  and  carried  through  the  work  without  the 
sympathetic  aid  and  encouragement  of  my  wife. 

MITCHELL  CARROLL. 
The  George  Washington  University. 


ffireeft 


GREEK  WOMEN 

WHENEVER  culture  or  art  or  beauty  is  theme  for  thought, 
the  fancy  at  once  wanders  back  to  the  Ancient  Greeks, 
whom  we  regard  as  the  ultimate  source  of  all  the  aesthetic 
influences  which  surround  us.  To  them  we  look  for  in- 
struction in  philosophy,  in  poetry,  in  oratory,  in  many  of  the 
problems  of  science.  But  it  is  in  their  arts  that  the  Greeks 
have  left  us  their  richest  and  most  beneficent  legacy;  and 
when  we  consider  how  much  they  have  contributed  to  the 
world's  civilization,  we  wonder  what  manner  of  men  and 
women  they  must  have  been  to  attain  such  achievements. 

Though  woman's  influence  is  exercised  silently  and  un- 
obtrusively, it  is  none  the  less  potent  in  determining  the 
character  and  destiny  of  a  people.  Historians  do  not  take 
note  of  it,  men  overlook  and  undervalue  it,  and  yet  it  is 
ever  present;  and  in  a  civilization  like  that  of  the  Greeks, 
where  the  feminine  element  manifests  itself  in  all  its  higher 
activities, — in  its  literature,  its  art,  its  religion, — it  becomes 
an  interesting  problem  to  inquire  into  the  character  and 
status  of  woman  among  the  Greek  peoples.  We  do  not 
desire  to  know  merely  the  purely  external  features  of 
feminine  life  among  the  Greeks,  such  as  their  dress,  their 
ornaments,  their  home  surroundings;  we  would,  above 
all,  investigate  the  subjective  side  of  their  life — how  they 

3 


4  WOMAN 

regarded  themselves,  and  were  regarded  by  men;  how  they 
reasoned,  and  felt,  and  loved;  how  they  experienced  the 
joys  and  sorrows  of  life;  what  part  they  took  in  the  social 
life  of  the  tirries;  how  their  conduct  influenced  the  actions  of 
men  and  determined  the  course  of  history;  what  were  their 
moral  and  spiritual  endowments; — in  short,  we  should  like 
to  know  the  Greek  woman  in  all  those  phases  of  life  which 
make  the  modern  woman  interesting  and  influential  and  the 
conserving  force  in  human  society.  Yet,  when  we  estimate 
our  sources  of  information,  we  find  that  there  is  no  problem 
in  the  whole  range  of  Greek  life  so  difficult  of  solution  as  that 
concerning  the  status  and  character  of  Greek  women. 

The  first  condition  of  a  successful  study  of  Greek  women 
is  to  familiarize  one's  self  with  the  milieu  in  which  they 
lived  and  moved.  To  do  this  we  must  adapt  ourselves  to 
a  manner  of  life  and  to  conceptions  and  feelings  widely 
different  from  our  own.  The  Greek  spirit  of  the  fifth 
century  before  the  Christian  era  has  but  little  in  common 
with  the  spirit  of  the  twentieth  century;  and  unless  we 
gain  some  insight  into  the  spirit  of  the  Greeks,  we  cannot 
understand  the  fundamental  differences  between  the  life 
of  the  Greek  woman  and  that  of  the  modern  woman.  Let 
us  note  a  few  respects  in  which  this  difference  shows  itself. 

The  Greek  attitude  toward  nature  was  that  of  reverent 
children  who  saw  everywhere  therein  manifestations  of 
the  divine.  To  them  everything  was  what  we  call  super- 
natural. If  wine  gladdened  the  heart  of  man,  it  was  the 
influence  of  a  god.  If  love  stirred  the  breast,  a  god  was 
inspiring  man  with  a  sweet  influence,  and  the  divine  power 
must  not  be  resisted.  The  gods  themselves  yielded  to  the 
impulses  of  love;  why  should  not  men?  Furthermore, 
Greek  thought  conceived  of  the  human  being  as  the  noblest 
creation  of  nature.  Christian  theology  conceives  of  the 
body  as  the  prison  house  of  the  soul,  from  which  the  soul 


GREEK  WOMEN  5 

must  escape  to  attain  its  highest  development;  the  Greeks, 
on  the  other  hand,  regarded  body  and  soul  as  forming  a 
complete,  inseparable,  and  harmonious  unit.  There  was 
no  impulse  toward  distinguishing  between  the  two,  no 
restless  reaching  out  toward  something  regarded  as  higher 
and  nobler;  seeing  infinite  possibilities  in  man  as  man,  the 
Greek  sought  only  the  idealization  of  the  human  being  as 
such,  the  completion  and  realization  of  the  highest  type  of 
humanity,  physical  and  spiritual.  Because  of  this  pecul- 
iar conception  of  man,  the  gods  of  the  Greeks  rose  out  of 
nature  and  did  not  transcend  it.  Some  of  them  were  per- 
sonifications of  the  forces  of  nature;  others  were  merely, 
according  to  Greek  ideas,  the  highest  conceptions  of  what 
was  admirable  in  man  and  woman.  When  we  consider 
the  goddesses  of  the  Olympian  Pantheon,  we  see  that  this 
conception  of  the  ideal  in  woman  must  have  been  very 
.high,  manifesting  itself  in  the  characters  of  Hera,  the  god- 
dess of  marriage  and  of  the  birth  of  children;  Athena,  "in- 
tellect unmoved  by  fleshly  lust,  the  perfection  of  serene, 
unclouded  wisdom;"  Demeter,  goddess  of  agriculture  and 
of  the  domestic  life;  Aphrodite,  goddess  of  love  and  beauty 
and  the  idealization  of  feminine  graces  and  charm;  Arte- 
mis, the  maiden  divinity  never  conquered  by  love,  and  the 
protectress  of  maidens;  and  Hestia,  goddess  of  the  hearth 
and  preserver  of  the  sanctity  of  the  home. 

It  is  difficult  for  us  to  appreciate  the  passionate  love  of 
beauty  which  animated  the  Greeks. 

"  What  is  good  and  fair 
Shall  ever  be  our  care. 
That  shall  never  be  our  care 
Which  is  neither  good  nor  fair." 

This  immortal  burden  from  the  stanzas  of  Theognis, 
sung  by  the  Muses  and  Graces  at  the  wedding  of  Cadmus 


6  WOMAN 

and  Harmonia,  "strikes,"  says  Symonds,  "the  keynote 
to  the  music  of  the  Greek  genius."  This  innate  love  of 
beauty,  fostered  by  natural  surroundings  and  held  in  re- 
straint by  a  sense  of  measure,  was  the  most  salient  char- 
acteristic of  the  Greek  people.  It  is  impossible  for  us  to 
realize  the  intensity  of  the  Greek  feeling  for  beauty;  and 
to  them  the  human  body  was  the  noblest  form  of  earthly 
loveliness.  To  illustrate,  we  may  recall  the  incident  of 
Phryne's  trial  before  the  judges.  Hyperides,  her  advo- 
cate, failing  in  his  other  arguments,  drew  aside  her  tunic 
and  revealed  to  them  a  bosom  perfectly  marvellous  in  its 
beauty.  Phryne  was  at  once  acquitted,  not  from  any 
prurient  motives,  but  because  "the  judges  beheld  in  such 
an  exquisite  form  not  an  ordinary  mortal,  but  a  priestess 
and  prophetess  of  the  divine  Aphrodite.  They  were 
inspired  with  awe,  and  would  have  deemed  it  sacrilege 
to  mar-  or  destroy  such  a  perfect  masterpiece  of  crea- 
tive power."  Nor  was  the  Greek  conception  of  beauty 
purely  sensual.  Through  the  perfection  of  human  loveli- 
ness they  had  glimpses  of  divine  beauty,  and  "  the  fleshly 
vehicle  was  but  the  means  to  lead  on  the  soul  to  what  is 
eternally  and  imperishably  beautiful."  Thus  the  lesson 
of  the  Phcedrus  and  Symposium  of  Plato  is  that  "the 
passion  which  grovels  in  the  filth  of  sensual  grossness 
may  be  transformed  into  a  glorious  enthusiasm,  a  winged 
splendor,  capable  of  rising  to  the  contemplation  of  eternal 
verities  and  reuniting  the  soul  of  man  to  God." 

This  last  reflection  leads  us  to  the  most  important  differ- 
ence between  ancient  and  modern  conceptions,  that  in 
regard  to  the  relations  between  the  sexes.  We  of  the 
Christian  era  have  a  clear  doctrine  of  right  and  wrong  to 
guide  us,  a  law  given  from  without  ourselves,  the  result 
of  revelation.  The  Greeks,  on  the  other  hand,  "  had  to 
interrogate  nature  and  their  own  hearts  for  the  mode  of 


GREEK  WOMEN  7 

action  to  be  pursued.  They  did  not  feel  or  think  that  one 
definite  course  of  action  was  right  and  the  others  wrong; 
but  they  had  to  judge  in  each  case  whether  the  action 
was  becoming,  whether  it  was  in  harmony  with  the  nobler 
side  of  human  nature,  whether  it  was  beautiful  or  useful. 
Utility,  appropriateness,  and  the  sense  of  the  beautiful 
were  the  only  guides  which  the  Greeks  could  find  to  direct 
them  in  the  relations  of  the  sexes  to  each  other."  Hence 
we  find  that  the  Greeks  deemed  permissible  much  which 
offends  the  modern  sense  of  propriety;  for  example,  when 
maidens  captured  in  war  became  for  a  time  the  concubines 
of  the  victors,  as  Chryseis  in  the  Iliad,  and  were  after- 
ward restored  to  their  homes,  they  were  not  thought  in 
the  least  disgraced  by  their  misfortune;  "for  if  such  a 
stain  happen  to  a  woman  by  force  of  circumstances," 
says  Xenophon,  "  men  honor  her  none  the  less  if  her 
affection  seems  to  them  to  remain  untainted." 

How,  then,  are  we  to  bridge  over  the  gulf  which  sepa- 
rates us  from  the  Greeks?  What  are  our  sources  of 
knowledge  of  Greek  woman  and  her  manner  of  life? 

o 

We  must  first  of  all  know  the  country  of  the  Greeks. 
The  influence  of  country  and  climate  on  the  Greek  nation- 
ality has  been  frequently  emphasized,  and  the  physical 
phenomena  which  moulded  the  characters  of  the  men 
must  also  have  affected  the  women.  A  climate  so  mild 
that,  as  Euripides  says,  "the  cold  of  winter  is  without 
rigor,  and  the  shafts  of  Phoebus  do  not  wound;"  a  soil 
midway  between  harsh  sterility  and  luxurious  vegetation; 
a  system  of  fertile  plains  and  rugged  plateaus  and  varied 
mountain  chains;  a  coast  indented  with  innumerable  inlets 
and  gulfs  and  bays — these  were  the  physical  character- 
istics which  moulded  the  destinies  of  Greek  women. 
Furthermore,  the  modem  Greek  people  trace  the  threads 
of  their  history  unbroken  back  to  ancient  times,  in  spite 


8  WOMAN 

of  the  incursions  of  alien  peoples  and  years  of  subjuga- 
tion to  the  Turk.  Many  ancient  customs  survive,  such 
as  the  giving  of  a  dowry  and  the  bathing  of  the  bride 
before  the  wedding  ceremony.  On  the  islands  of  the 
>£gean,  where  there  has  been  but  little  intercourse  with 
foreigners,  the  type  of  features  so  familiar  to  us  from 
Greek  sculpture  still  prevails,  and  the  visitor  can  see 
beautiful  maidens  who  might  have  served  as  models  for 
Phidias  and  Praxiteles.  The  configuration  of  the  land  led 
to  the  Greek  conception  of  the  city-state — the  feature  of 
internal  polity  which  had  most  to  do  with  the  seclusion 
of  women. 

Greek  literature,  however,  is  our  chief  source  of  knowl- 
edge in  this  regard,  yet  even  the  information  afforded  by 
that  literature  is  inadequate  and  unsatisfactory  in  the 
glimpses  it  gives  of  the  life  of  woman.  All  that  we  know 
about  Greek  women,  with  the  exception  of  the  fragments 
of  Sappho's  poems,  is  derived  from  chronicles  written 
by  men.  Now,  men  never  write  dispassionately  about 
women.  They  either  love  or  hate  them;  they  either 
idealize  or  caricature  them.  Furthermore,  Greek  litera- 
ture was  not  only  written  by  men,  but  also  by  men  for 
men.  The  Greek  reading  public,  the  audience  at  the 
theatre,  the  gathering  in  the  Assembly  and  in  the  law 
courts,  were  almost  exclusively  masculine.  Remarks  in- 
dicating the  inferiority  of  the  frailer  but  more  fascinating 
sex  are  even  in  our  day  not  altogether  displeasing  to  the 
average  man,  and  constitute  one  of  the  stock  motifs  of 
humor;  henc-e  it  is  not  to  be  taken  too  seriously  that  on 
the  Greek  stage  there  was  much  abuse  of  woman — though 
this  is  offset  by  passages  in  which  the  sex  is  extravagantly 
praised.  Euripides  was  once  called  a  woman  hater  in  the 
presence  of  Sophocles.  "  Yes,"  was  the  clever  response, 
"in  his  tragedies." 


GREEK  WOMEN  9 

Then,  aside  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  writer,  only 
meagre  facts  can  be  gleaned  here  and  there  from  Greek 
literature  regarding  the  life  of  Greek  women.  Only  by 
gathering  and  comparing  disparate  passages  collected  from 
writers  of  different  views,  of  different  States,  and  of  dif- 
ferent periods,  can  we  get  anything  like  a  systematic 
presentation  of  the  outward  aspect  of  feminine  life.  We 
are  more  fortunate,  however,  when  we  consider  the  sub- 
jective side;  for  the  Greek  epos  and  drama  present  femi- 
nine portraitures  which  necessarily  reflect,  more  or  less 
clearly,  the  thought  and  feelings  of  woman  in  the  age 
in  which  the  poet  flourished.  Homer  gives  an  accurate 
portrayal  of  the  Heroic  Age,  on  the  borderland  of  which 
his  own  life  was  passed,  while  memories  of  it  were  still 
fresh  in  the  minds  of  men.  The  Athenian  tragedians 
also  locate  their  plots  in  the  Heroic  Age,  but  they  endow 
their  characters  with  a  depth  of  thought,  with  a  power  of 
reflection,  with  an  insight  into  the  problems  of  life,  which 
were  altogether  foreign  to  men  and  women  in  the  child- 
hood of  the  world,  and  were  characteristic  of  Athens  in  its 
brilliant  intellectual  epoch.  Hence  a  history  of  Greek 
womanhood  must  draw  largely  from  the  works  of  the 
poets,  and  must  endeavor  to  give  a  picture  of  the  women 
who  figure  in  the  Iliad  and  the  Odyssey  and  in  the  dramas 
of  yEschylus,  Sophocles,  and  Euripides.  The  lyric  poets  of 
Greece  are  also  of  unique  importance  in  the  study  of  an- 
cient humanity,  for  they  reveal  the  hearts  of  men  and 
women  and  make  known  the  conflicts  of  the  soul.  The 
historical  women  of  Hellas  are  few  in  number,  and  are 
known  to  us  only  through  meagre  passages  in  the  his- 
torians, orators,  and  philosophers. 

A  third  source  of  information  is  Greek  art.  When 
woman  figures  so  largely  in  the  few  relics  of  antiquity 
which  have  come  down  to  us  intact,  what  a  commentary 


10  WOMAN 

on  ancient  womanhood  must  the  art  of  the  Greeks  have 
been,  before  the  ruthless  hands  of  Romans  and  barba- 
rians and  the  tooth  of  time  effaced  her  most  precious 
treasures!  The  vase  paintings  of  the  Greeks  illustrate 
every  phase  of  private  life,  and  abound  in  representa- 
tions of  the  maiden  and  the  matron,  in  the  home,  at 
the  loom,  in  the  bridal  procession,  at  the  wedding.  And 
Greek  sculpture  presents  ideal  types  of  woman,  perfect 
physically  and  highly  endowed  with  every  intellectual 
and  sensuous  charm.  From  these  works  of  plastic  art, 
abounding  in  the  museums  of  Europe,  we  know  that  the 
Greek  woman  was  beautiful,  the  peer  of  man  in  physical 
excellence.  In  form,  the  Greek  woman  was  so  perfect  as 
to  be  still  taken  as  the  type  of  her  sex.  "  Her  beauty, 
from  whatever  cause,  bordered  closely  upon  the  ideal,  or 
rather  was  that  which,  because  now  only  found  in  works 
of  art,  we  call  the  ideal.  But  our  conceptions  of  form 
never  transcend  what  is  found  in  nature.  She  bounds 
our  ideas  by  a  circle  over  which  we  cannot  step.  The 
sculptors  of  Greece  represented  nothing  but  what  they 
saw;  and  even  when  the  cunning  of  their  hand  was  most 
felicitous,  even  when  love  and  grace  and  all  the  poetry  of 
womanhood  appeared  to  breathe  from  their  marbles,  the 
inferiority  of  their  imitation  to  the  creations  of  God,  in 
properties  belonging  to  form,  in  mere  contour,  in  the 
grouping  and  development  of  features,  must  have  sufficed 
to  impress  even  upon  Phidias,  that  high  priest  of  art, 
how  childish  it  was  to  rise  above  nature."  But  it  is  not 
merely  physical  perfection  which  Appeals  to  us  in  these 
masterpieces  of  plastic  art.  Love  and  tenderness  and 
every  womanly  charm  find  expression  in  every  feature 
of  the  countenance;  and  there  is,  above  all,  a  moral 
dignity,  an  elevation  of  soul,  a  spiritual  fervor,  which  lift 
us  from  things  of  earth  and  impart  aspirations  toward 


GREEK  WOMEN  II 

the  eternal.  The  women  who  gave  insight  and  inspi- 
ration to  the  sculptor  in  his  portrayal  of  Hera  and  of 
Athena  and  of  Aphrodite  must  have  possessed  in  some 
measure  the  qualities  imparted  by  the  artist  to  his  works. 
The  status  of  woman  among  the  Greeks  differs  according 
to  the  period,  tribe,  and  form  of  government,  and  all  the 
various  phases  of  life  and  civilization  arising  from  these 
must  be  taken  into  consideration  in  reaching  our  conclu- 
sions. Greek  history  falls  into  certain  well-defined  periods 
which  are  distinct  in  culture  and  civilization.  There  is 
first  the  Heroic  Age,  portrayed  in  Greek  mythology  and 
in  the  Homeric  poems,  the  age  of  demigods  and  valiant 
warriors  and  noble  women.  This  is  the  monarchical 
period  in  Greek  history.  Kings  presided  over  the  desti- 
nies of  men,  and  about  them  were  gathered  the  nobles. 
Society  was  aristocratic;  the  life  portrayed  was  the  life  of 
courts.  A  court  made  a  queen  necessary;  and  where  there 
is  a  queen,  woman  is  always  a  source  of  influence  and 
power  for  good  or  evil,  and  wins  either  the  deference 
and  regard,  or  the  fear  and  resentment  of  men.  Succeed- 
ing the  Heroic  Age,  there  followed  the  "storm  and  stress" 
period  in  Greek  life,  when  monarchies  were  overturned 
and  gave  place  to  oligarchies,  and  they,  in  turn,  to  tyran- 
nies; when  commerce  was  developing,  colonies  were 
being  sent  out  to  distant  parts  of  the  Mediterranean,  and 
the  aristocratic  classes  were  enjoying  the  results  of  wealth 
and  travel  and  the  interchange  of  social  courtesies.  In 
this  period,  epic  poetry  declined,  and  lyric  poetry  took 
its  place  in  the  three  forms  of  elegiac,  iambic,  and  melic; 
the  arts,  too,  were  beginning  to  be  cultivated.  This  is  the 
Transition  Age  of  Greece.  In  aristocratic  circles,  among 
the  families  of  the  oligarchs  and  in  the  courts  of  tyrants, 
woman  continued  to  hold  a  prominent  place;  but  among  the 
poorer  classes,  who  were  ground  down  by  the  aristocrats, 


12  WOMAN 

life  was  hard  and  bitter,  and  woman  was  censured  as  the 
source  of  many  of  the  ills  of  mankind. 

The  Transition  Age  constitutes  the  portal  admitting  to 
Historical  Greece  proper.  In  most  communities,  the  level- 
ling process  has  gone  on,  and  democracies  have  taken  the 
place  of  oligarchies  and  tyrannies.  The  people  have  as- 
serted themselves  and  are  regnant.  It  is  a  noteworthy 
fact  in  Greek  history  that  where  democracy  prevailed 
woman  was  least  highly  regarded  and  had  fewest  privi- 
leges. In  Athens,  where  democracy  was  all-controlling, 
feminine  activities  were  confined  largely  to  the  women's 
apartments  of  the  house.  In  other  cities,  oligarchies  con- 
tinued to  have  power,  and  an  aristocracy  was  still  recog- 
nized, as  at  Sparta;  and  here  the  privileges  and  freedom 
of  woman  were  very  great. 

The  early  tribal  divisions  among  the  Greeks  must  also 
be  taken  into  consideration.  The  Achaeans  are  closely 
identified  with  the  Heroic  Age;  they  built  up  the  powerful 
States  in  the  Peloponnesus,  and  undertook  the  first  great 
national  expedition  of  Hellas.  Thus  the  Achaeans  are 
the  representative  Homeric  people,  with  its  monarchical 
life  and  the  prominent  social  status  of  its  women.  The 
Achasan  civilization  gave  way  before  the  Dorian  migra- 
tion, and  ceased  to  be  a  factor  in  Greek  history.  Of  the 
three  remaining  divisions,  the  >Eolians  inhabited  parts  of 
Thessaly,  Boeotia,  and  especially  the  island  of  Lesbos,  and 
the  Greek  colonies  of  Asia  Minor  along  the  shores  of  the 
North  >£gean.  Their  most  brilliant  period  was  during 
the  Transition  Age,  when  Lesbos  was  ruled  by  a  wealthy 
and  powerful  aristocracy  and  later  by  a  tyranny,  and 
when  lyric  poetry  reached  its  perfect  bloom  in  the  verses 
of  Sappho.  jEolian  culture  was  marked  by  its  devotion 
to  music  and  poetry  and  by  its  richness  and  voluptuous- 
ness. At  no  other  time  and  place  in  the  whole  history  of 


GREEK  WOMEN  13 

Hellas  did  woman  possess  so  much  freedom  and  enjoy  all 
the  benefits  of  wealth  and  culture  in  so  marked  a  degree 
as  among  the  jEolian  people  of  Lesbos. 

The  Dorian  and  the  Ionian  peoples  occupied  the  arena 
during  the  historical  period;  and,  representing  as  they  did 
opposing  tendencies,  they  were  continually  in  conflict. 
The  Dorians  mainly  occupied  the  Southern  and  Western 
Peloponnesus,  Argos,  Corinth,  Megara,  yEgina,  Magna 
Graecia,  and  the  southern  coast  of  Asia  Minor;  the  lonians 
inhabited  Attica,  Euboea,  most  of  the  islands  of  the  >Egean, 
and  the  famous  twelve  Ionian  cities  along  the  coast  of  Asia 
Minor.  The  chief  city  of  the  Dorians  was  Sparta;  but 
Sparta  had  a  form  of  government  peculiar  to  itself,  which 
must  not  be  taken  as  representing  all  the  Dorian  States. 
Yet  among  the  Dorian  States  in  general  there  was  much 
the  same  degree  of  freedom  enjoyed  by  women  as  in 
Sparta,  though  they  were  not  subjected  to  the  same  harsh 
discipline. 

The  Ionian  cities  of  Asia  Minor  were  greatly  influenced 
by  Asiatic  love  of  ease  and  luxury,  and  they  introduced 
into  Greece  many  aspects  of  the  civilization  and  art  of 
Asia.  There  is  a  tradition  that  when  the  lonians  migrated 
from  Hellas  to  Asia  Minor  they  did  not  take  their  wives 
with  them,  as  did  the  Dorians  and  ^olians,  and,  conse- 
quently, they  were  compelled  to  wed  the  native  women  of 
the  conquered  districts.  As  they  looked  upon  the  wives 
thus  acquired  as  inferior,  they  were  glad  to  shut  them  up 
in  the  women's  apartments,  following  the  Oriental  custom, 
and  to  treat  them  as  domestics  rather  than  as  companions. 
Thus  is  supposed  to  have  arisen  the  custom  of  secluding 
the  women  of  the  household,  which  rapidly  spread  among 
Ionian  peoples,  even  in  Continental  Greece. 

Athens  was  the  chief  city  among  the  Ionian  peoples,  but 
it  developed  a  civilization  peculiarly  its  own,  known  as 


14  WOMAN 

the  Attic-Ionian,  combining  much  of  the  rugged  strength 
and  vigor  of  the  Dorians  with  the  refinement,  delicacy,  and 
versatility  of  the  lonians.  Yet  the  status  of  woman  in 
the  city  of  the  violet  crown  was  a  reproach  to  its  other- 
wise unapproachable  preeminence.  Nowhere  else  in  en- 
tire Hellas  were  Greek  women  in  like  measure  repressed 
and  excluded  from  the  higher  life  of  the  men  as  among 
the  Athenians.  Consequently,  the  name  of  no  great  Athe- 
nian woman  is  known  to  us.  But  the  Ionian  repression 
of  women  of  honorable  station  led  to  the  rise  of  a  class  of 
"  emancipated  "  women,  who  threw  off  the  shackles  that 
had  bound  their  sex  and  united  their  fortunes  with  men  in 
unlawful  relations  as  hetasras,  or  "companions."  Owing 
to  their  pursuit  of  the  higher  learning  of  the  times  and 
their  cultivation  of  all  the  feminine  arts  and  graces,  the 
hetasras  constituted  a  most  interesting  phenomenon  in 
the  social  life  of  Greece,  and  played  an  important  role 
in  Greek  culture,  especially  in  Athens.  As  the  centre 
of  culture  for  Hellas,  and  as  the  exponent  of  literature 
and  art  for  the  civilized  world,  Athens  demands  especial 
attention  in  its  treatment  of  women. 

The  classical  period  of  Greek  history  was  succeeded  by 
the  Hellenistic  Age,  an  epoch  introduced  by  the  spread 
of  the  Greek  language  and  culture  over  the  vast  empire  of 
Alexander  the  Great.  The  theory  of  the  city-state  had 
been  one  of  the  chief  causes  of  the  seclusion  of  women; 
and  as  Alexander  broke  down  the  barriers  between  the 
Greek  cities  and  introduced  uniformity  of  life  and  manners 
throughout  his  empire,  from  this  time  on  the  status  of 
woman  is  gradually  elevated,  her  attention  to  the  higher 
education  becomes  more  general,  and  she  takes  a  more 
prominent  part  in  culture  and  politics  and  all  the  living 
interests  of  the  day.  Alexandria  usurps  the  place  of 
Athens  as  the  chief  centre  of  Greek  life  and  thought,  and 


GREEK  WOMEN  15 

here  the  Greek  woman  plays  a  conspicuous  and  promi- 
nent role.  Then,  as  Rome  spread  her  conquests  over 
the  Orient,  the  Grseco-Roman  period  succeeds  the  Helle- 
nistic, and  through  the  intermingling  of  alien  civilizations 
a  womanhood  of  purely  Greek  culture  is  merged  into  the 
cosmopolitan  womanhood  of  the  Roman  world.  Chris- 
tianity rapidly  becomes  the  leaven  that  permeates  the 
lump  of  the  Roman  Empire,  and,  appealing  as  it  did  to  all 
that  was  highest  and  best  in  feminine  character,  finds 
ready  acceptance  among  the  women  of  Hellenic  lands. 
The  woman  of  Greek  culture,  with  rare  exceptions,  ceases 
to  exist,  and  our  subject  reaches  its  natural  termination. 


ffiJEomanfjoolr  in  tlje  $etoic 


II 

WOMANHOOD   IN   THE   HEROIC   AGE 

THE  life  of  the  earliest  Greeks  is  mirrored  in  their 
legends.  Though  not  exact  history,  the  heroic  epics  of 
Greece  are  of  great  value  as  pictures  of  life  and  manners. 
Hence  we  may  turn  to  them  as  valuable  memorials  of 
that  state  of  society  which  must  be  for  us  the  starting 
point  of  the  history  of  the  Greek  woman. 

The  evidence  of  Homer  regarding  the  Heroic  Age  is 
comprehensive  and  accurate.  The  discoveries  of  recent 
years  are  making  Troy  and  Mycense  and  other  cities  of 
Homeric  life  very  real  to  us.  We  find  that  Homer  accu- 
rately described  the  material  surroundings  of  his  heroes 
and  heroines — their  houses  and  clothing  and  weapons  and 
jewels.  The  royal  palaces  at  Troy  and  Tiryns  and  My- 
cenae have  been  unearthed,  and  we  know  that  their  human 
occupants  must  have  been  persons  of  the  character  de- 
scribed by  Homer,  for  only  such  could  have  made  proper 
use  of  the  objects  of  utility  and  adornment  found  in  these 
palaces  and  now  to  be  studied  in  the  museums  of  Europe. 
Hence  we  are  driven  to  the  conclusion  that  though  Aga- 
memnon be  a  myth  and  Helen  a  poet's  fancy,  yet  men 
and  women  like  Agamemnon  and  Helen  must  once  have 
lived  and  loved  and  suffered  on  Greek  soil. 

19 


20  WOMAN 

Furthermore,  great  movements  in  the  world's  history 
are  brought  about  only  by  great  men  and  great  women. 
The  great  epics  of  the  world  tell  the  stories  of  national 
heroes,  not  as  they  actually  were,  but  idealized  and  deified 
by  generations  of  admiring  descendants.  Hence,  behind 
all  the  marvellous  stories  in  myth  and  legend  were  doubt- 
less actual  figures  of  men  and  women  who  influenced  the 
course  of  events  and  left  behind  them  reputations  of  suffi- 
cient magnitude  to  give  at  least  a  basis  for  the  heroic 
figures  of  epic  poetry. 

To  appreciate  the  elements  from  which  the  immortal 
types  of  Greek  Epic  were  composed,  a  comparison  with 
the  Book  of  Judges  is  apposite.  In  Judges  we  have  repre- 
sented, though  in  disconnected  narrative,  the  heroic  age 
of  Ancient  Israel,  and  from  material  such  as  this  the  na- 
tional epic  of  the  Hebrew  people  might  have  been  written. 
In  such  an  epic,  women  like  Deborah  and  Jephthah's 
Daughter  and  Delilah  would  be  the  idealized  heroines,  as 
are  Penelope  and  Andromache  and  Helen  in  Homeric 
poems.  It  is  not  unreasonable,  therefore,  to  suppose  that 
in  the  Achaean  Age  there  lived  actual  women,  of  heroic 
qualities,  who  were  the  prototypes  of  the  idealized  figures 
presented  by  Homer  and  the  dramatic  poets. 

Woman  must  have  played  a  prominent  role  in  the 
childhood  of  the  Greek  world,  for  much  of  the  romantic 
interest  which  Greek  legend  inspires  is  derived  from  the 
mention  of  the  women.  Helen  and  Penelope,  Clytem- 
nestra  and  Andromache,  and  the  other  celebrated  dames 
of  heroic  times,  stand  in  the  foreground  of  the  picture, 
and  are  noted  for  their  beauty,  their  virtues,  their  crimes, 
or  their  sufferings.  Thus,  a  study  of  the  history  of 
woman  in  Ancient  Greece  properly  begins  with  a  con- 
templation of  feminine  life  as  it  is  presented  in  the  poems 
of  Homer. 


WOMANHOOD  IN  THE   HEROIC  AGE  21 

Homer's  portrayal  of  the  Achaean  Age  \s  complete  and 
satisfactory,  largely  because  he  devotes  so  much  attention 
to  woman  and  the  conditions  of  her  life.  His  chivalrous 
spirit  manifests  itself  in  his  attitude  toward  the  weaker 
sex.  Homer's  men  are  frequently  childish  and  impulsive; 
Homer's  women  present  the  characteristics  universally 
regarded  as  essential  to  true  womanhood.  They  even 
seem  strangely  modern;  the  general  tone  of  culture,  the 
relation  of  the  sexes,  the  motives  that  govern  men  and 
women,  present  striking  parallels  to  what  we  find  in 
modern  times. 

Homer  has  presented  to  us  eternal  types  of  womanhood, 
which  are  in  consequence  worthy  of  the  immortality  they 
have  acquired.  At  present,  we  shall  merely  seek  to  learn 
from  these  works  as  much  as  possible  about  the  life  of 
woman  as  seen  in  the  customs  of  society,  and  in  archaeo- 
logical and  ethnographic  details. 

That  which  strikes  us  as  most  noticeable  in  the  organi- 
zation of  society  in  heroic  times  is  its  patriarchal  sim- 
plicity. Monarchy  is  the  prevailing  form  of  government. 
"  Basileus,"  "  leader  of  the  people,"  is  the  title  of  the 
sovereign,  and  every  Basileus  rules  by  right  hereditary 
and  divine:  the  sceptre  of  his  house  is  derived  from  Zeus. 
The  king  is  leader  in  war,  head  of  the  Council  and  of 
the  Assembly  of  the  people,  and  supreme  judge  in  all 
matters  involving  equity.  The  "elders"  constitute  the 
Council,  and  the  people  are  gathered  together  in  Assembly 
to  endorse  the  actions  of  their  chiefs.  The  Iliad  describes 
the  life  of  a  Greek  camp;  but  Agamemnon,  the  suzerain, 
has  under  him  men  who  are  kings  at  home.  The  Odyssey 
describes  civil  life  in  the  centres  where  the  chieftains  at 
Ilium  are  royal  rulers.  The  two  epics  are  chiefly  con- 
cerned with  the  lives  of  these  kings  and  their  families.  It 
is  the  life  of  courts  and  kings,  of  the  aristocracy,  with 


22  WOMAN 

which  Homer  makes  us  familiar;  and  in  the  monarchies  of 
Homer  the  status  of  woman  is  always  elevated  and  her 
influence  great.  The  wife  shares  the  position  of  her  hus- 
band, and  his  family  are  treated  with  all  the  deference 
due  the  head.  As  the  king  derives  his  authority  by 
divine  right,  the  people  live  peaceably  under  the  govern- 
ment of  their  chief  as  under  the  authority  and  protection 
of  the  gods.  Such  are  the  salient  features  of  the  Homeric 
polity. 

With  what  inimitable  grace  does  the  poet  initiate  us 
even  into  the  life  of  the  little  girl  at  her  mother's  side. 
Achilles  is  chiding  Patroclus  for  his  tears:  "  Wherefore 
weepest  thou,  Patroclus,  like  a  fond  little  maid  that  runs 
by  her  mother's  side  and  bids  her  mother  take  her  up, 
and  tearfully  looks  at  her  till  the  mother  takes  her  up?" 
Now,  let  us  note  the  maiden  at  the  dawn  of  womanhood. 
The  mother  had  prayed  that  her  daughter  might  grow  up 
like  Aphrodite  in  beauty  and  charm,  and  like  Athena  in 
wisdom  and  skill  in  handiwork.  Father  and  mother  ob- 
serve with  happiness  her  radiant  youth;  and  her  brothers 
care  tenderly  for  her.  Her  pastimes  consist  in  singing 
and  dancing  and  playing  ball  and  the  various  forms  of 
outdoor  recreation.  Young  men  and  maidens  join  together 
in  these  sports.  Homer  represented  such  scenes  on  the 
Shield  of  Achilles:  "Also  did  the  lame  god  devise  a  dancing 
place  like  unto  that  which  once  in  wide  Cnossos  Daedalus 
wrought  for  Ariadne  of  the  lovely  tresses.  There  were 
youths  dancing  and  maidens  of  costly  wooing,  their  hands 
upon  one  another's  wrists.  Fine  linen  the  maidens  had 
on,  and  the  youths  well-woven  doublets,  faintly  glistening 
with  oil.  Fair  wreaths  had  the  maidens,  and  the  youths 
daggers  of  gold  hanging  from  silver  baldrics.  And  now 
they  would  run  round  with  deft  feet  exceeding  lightly,  as 
when  a  potter  sitting  by  his  wheel  that  fitteth  between 


WOMANHOOD  IN  THE  HEROIC  AGE  23 

his  hands  maketh  trial  of  it  whether  it  will  run:  and  now 
anon  they  would  run  in  line  to  meet  each  other."  Such 
were  their  pastimes,  and  equally  joyous  were  their  occu- 
pations. To  the  maidens  seem  to  have  been  chiefly 
assigned  the  outdoor  tasks  of  the  household,  which  would 
contribute  to  their  physical  development.  Thus  the  Prin- 
cess Nausicaa  and  her  girl  friends  wash  in  the  river  the 
garments  of  fathers  and  brothers;  and  the  Shield  of  Achilles 
represented  a  vintage  scene  where  "maidens  and  strip- 
lings in  childish  glee  bear  the  sweet  fruit  in  plaited  baskets, 
and  in  the  midst  of  them  a  boy  made  pleasant  music  on  a 
clear-toned  viol,  and  sang  thereto  a  sweet  Linus-song, 
while  the  rest  with  feet  falling  together  kept  time  with 
the  music  and  the  song." 

The  education  of  the  girls  was  of  the  simplest  character. 
They  grew  up  in  the  apartment  of  the  mother,  and  learned 
from  her  simple  piety  toward  the  gods  a  modest  bearing, 
skill  in  needlework,  and  efficiency  in  the  management  of 
a  household. 

While  enjoying  a  freedom  far  greater  than  that  allowed 
to  maidens  in  the  classical  period,  the  Homeric  girls  did 
not  take  part  in  the  feasts  and  pastimes  of  court  life. 
Thus  the  poet  tells  us  that  Nausicaa,  who  is  a  perfect 
picture  of  the  Greek  girl  in  the  springtime  of  her  youth 
and  beauty,  "  retired  to  her  chamber  upon  her  return  to 
the  palace,  and  supper  was  served  to  her  by  a  nurse  in 
her  apartments,"  while  Odysseus  was  being  graciously 
entertained  by  her  father  and  mother  in  the  court  below. 
Strict  attention  to  the  convenances  of  their  sex  and  station 
was  required  of  these  primitive  women;  and  the  high- 
minded  maiden  Nausicaa  feared  evil  report  should  the 
stranger,  Odysseus,  be  seen  with  her  in  the  streets  of 
the  city,  as  such  intimacy  would  be  a  "shame"  to  her, 
a  maiden;  while  it  was  also  a  "shame"  for  a  married 


24  WOMAN 

woman  to  go  alone  into  the  presence  of  men,  even  when 
in  her  own  house,  though  she  could  enter  their  presence 
when  attended  by  her  handmaidens.  Thus  Penelope  is 
followed  by  her  maidens  when  she  goes  to  the  hall  of 
the  men  to  hear  the  minstrel  Phemius.  "  Bid  Antinoe 
and  Hippodamia,"  says  she,  "come  to  stand  by  my  side 
in  the  halls,  for  alone  I  will  not  go  among  men,  for  I  am 
ashamed."-  Nor  did  Helen  and  Andromache  ever  appear 
in  public  without  their  handmaidens.  In  seeming  opposi- 
tion to  this  excessive  modesty  was  that  office  of  hospitality 
which  ofttimes  required  young  women  to  bathe  and  anoint 
the  distinguished  strangers  who  were  guests  in  the  house. 
Thus  Poly  caste,  the  beautiful  daughter  of  Nestor,  bathed 
and  anointed  Telemachus,  and  put  on  him  a  cloak  and 
vest.  Helen  performed  like  offices  for  Odysseus  when 
he  came  in  disguise  into  Troy,  and  Circe  later  for  the 
same  hero.  Though  the  poet's  statements  may  at  times, 
in  matters  of  outward  appearance,  do  violence  to  modern 
social  rules,  yet,  because  life  in  heroic  times  was  simpler 
and  less  conventional,  there  could  innocently  be  greater 
freedom  of  expression  between  the  sexes  regarding  many 
matters  which  are  tabooed  in  good  society  in  this  very 
conventional  age.  Hence  such  passages  as  those  cited  are 
to  be  taken  rather  as  an  evidence  of  the  innocence  and 
ingenuousness  of  Homer's  maidens  than  as  an  imputation 
of  lack  of  modesty. 

There  are  many  indications  pointing  to  the  universal 
beauty  of  Homeric  women.  Thus  a  favorite  epithet  of 
the  country  is  "  Hellas,  famed  for  fair  women."  There 
are  also  numerous  epithets  applied  to  Homeric  characters 
significant  of  beauty,  as  "fair  in  form,"  "with  beautiful 
cheeks,"  "with  beautiful  locks,"  "with  beautiful  breasts," 
and  the  like,  demonstrating  the  universal  love  of  physical 
beauty  as  well  as  the  prevalence  of  beautiful  types. 


WOMANHOOD  IN  THE  HEROIC  AGE  25 

Marriage  was  a  highly  honorable  estate,  and  both  young 
men  and  maidens  looked  forward  to  it  as  a  natural  and 
desirable  step  in  the  sequence  of  life.  The  prelimina- 
ries were  of  a  distinctly  patriarchal  type.  The  marriage 
was  usually  a  matter  of  arrangement  between  the  suitor 
and  his  intended  father-in-law.  Sometimes  a  man  might 
win  his  bride  by  heroic  deed  or  personal  merit;  but  usually 
the  successful  suitor  was  he  who  brought  the  most  costly 
wedding  gifts.  Thus  the  characteristic  feature  was  wife 
purchase.  Usually  these  gifts  were  offered  to  the  bride's 
father  or  family;  but  in  the  case  of  the  (supposed)  widow 
Penelope,  they  were  presented  to  the  woman  herself.  The 
gifts  were  added  to  the  wealth  of  the  bride's  household. 
The  idea  of  dower  as  such  is  foreign  to  the  Homeric  poems, 
though  the  poet  occasionally  represents  the  bride  as  re- 
ceiving from  parents  rich  gifts,  which  apparently  were  to 
be  her  personal  property,  in  addition  to  the  nuptial  gifts 
from  her  fanrly,  consisting  of  herds  or  jewels  or  precious 
raiment. 

From  the  eagerness  with  which  suitors  sought  to  win 
the  regard  of  the  maiden,  it  would  seem  that  she  had  some 
choice  in  the  selection  of  a  husband;  but  in  general  the 
father  decided  whom  he  would  have  for  his  son-in-law, 
though  at  times  the  maiden  was  given  her  choice  from  a 
number  of  young  men  approved  by  her  father.  Widows 
were  expected  to  remarry;  and  in  their  case  considerable 
freedom  of  choice  existed. 

The  marriage  ceremonies  were  of  a  social  rather  than 
religious  or  civil  character.  The  wedding  day  was  cele- 
brated by  a  feast  provided  by  the  groom  in  the  house  of 
the  bride's  father.  All  the  guests  were  clad  in  their  most 
costly  raiment,  and  they  brought  presents  to  the  young 
couple.  In  these  patriarchal  times,  when  the  father  was 
both  chief  and  pontiff,  so  that  his  approval  gave  a  sacred 


26  WOMAN 

character  to  the  union,  the  leading  away  of  the  bride  from 
the  house  of  her  father  seems  to  have  constituted  the  most 
important  act  of  the  marriage  ceremony.  In  the  descrip- 
tion of  the  Shield  of  Achilles,  Homer  gives  us  a  glimpse  of 
this  solemnity.  Under  the  glow  of  torches,  surrounded 
by  a  joyous  company,  dancing  and  singing  hymeneal 
songs,  the  bride  was  led  to  the  house  of  her  future  hus- 
band. She  was  veiled,  a  custom  that  was  a  survival  of 
the  old  attempt  to  avoid  angering  the  ancestral  spirits 
by  withdrawing  unceremoniously  from  their  surveillance. 
The  gods  presided  over  marriage,  but  no  priest  or  sacri- 
fice was  needed;  no  ceremonies  have  been  recorded  which 
confirm  the  theory  of  bride  capture,  so  often  said  to  be  at 
the  basis  of  Homeric  marriages,  nor  is  there  mention  of 
any  ceremonial  rites  on  the  wedding  night. 

Marriage  among  the  Homeric  Greeks  had  primarily  two 
distinct  objects  in  view:  the  preservation  of  a  pure  line  of 
descent,  and  the  protection  of  the  property  rights  of  the 
family.  Hence  the  wife  and  mother  had  in  her  hands  all 
the  sacred  traditions  of  the  family;  if  these  were  preserved 
by  her,  she  added  to  their  glory;  if  violated,  the  prestige 
of  the  family  suffered  untold  loss.  In  consequence,  there 
was  no  polygamy  and  no  divorce.  Monogamy  could  be 
the  only  sanctioned  form  of  marriage  where  such  con- 
ceptions of  wedded  life  prevailed.  Concubinage  existed, 
especially  when  the  husband  was  long  absent  from  home; 
but  it  was  looked  upon  with  disfavor  and  frequently  led  to 
unfortunate  consequences,  as  in  the  cases  of  Phoenix  and 
Agamemnon.  Hetairism  and  prostitution  did  not  receive 
in  the  Homeric  days  the  recognized  place  that  was  later 
accorded  them  in  the  social  structure  of  the  Greeks.  The 
many  instances  of  conjugal  devotion  in  the  Iliad  and  the 
Odyssey,  as  seen,  for  example,  in  Hector  and  Androm- 
ache, Odysseus  and  Penelope,  Alcinous  and  Arete,  show 


WOMANHOOD  IN  THE   HEROIC  AGE  2/ 

the  high  average  of  marital  fidelity  in  heroic  times.  There 
are  also  many  minor  indications  that  the  ties  of  the  family 
were  very  sacred  among  the  Achaeans,  and  that  conjugal 
affection  was  very  strong.  One  of  the  lamented  hard- 
ships of  the  long  siege  was  separation  from  one's  wife: 
"  For  he  that  stayeth  away  but  one  single  month  far  from 
his  wife  in  his  benched  ship  f retteth  himself  when  winter 
storms  and  the  furious  sea  imprison  him;  but  for  us  the 
ninth  year  of  our  stay  here  is  upon  us  in  its  course."  And 
the  prayer  of  Odysseus  for  Nausicaa  shows  the  Greek 
love  of  home  and  happy  married  life:  "And  may  the 
gods  grant  thee  all  thy  heart's  desire:  a  husband  and  a 
home,  and  a  mind  at  one  with  his  may  they  give — a  good 
gift;  for  there  is  nothing  mightier  and  nobler  than  when 
man  and  wife  are  of  one  heart  and  mind  in  a  house,  a 
grief  to  their  foes,  and  to  their  friends  great  joy,  but  their 
own  hearts  know  it  best." 

The  view  taken  cf  adultery  is  a  good  test  of  the  posi- 
tion of  woman  in  society.  In  Homeric  times,  adultery  was 
regarded  as  the  violation  of  a  property  right.  There  are 
few  harsh  words  in  the  Iliad  against  Helen;  all  the  anger 
of  the  Greeks  was  concentrated  against  Paris,  who  had 
violated  the  .bond  of  guest  friendship,  and  had  alienated 
his  host's  property.  Menelaus  readily  pardoned  Helen, 
when  material  reparation  had  been  exacted;  there  is  no 
moral  reprehension  of  the  adultery  itself.  Clytemnestra 
was  violently  condemned,  less  because  she  yielded  to  the 
seductions  of  >£gisthus  than  because  her  crime  led  to 
the  murder  of  her  husband.  There  seems  to  have  been 
also  a  natural  perpetuity  of  the  marriage  contract.  To 
the  Greeks,  Helen  was  always  the  wife  of  Menelaus.  The 
ideal  for  the  wife  was  single-hearted  loyalty  toward  her 
husband;  faithfulness  and  submission  were  the  principal 
virtues  of  women.  Moral  lapses  by  men  were  frequent, 


28  WOMAN 

and  the  same  standard  of  marital  rectitude  was  not  re- 
quired from  them  as  from  the  women  of  the  heroic  days. 

The  social  manners  of  the  time,  and  especially  the 
elevated  position  of  the  matron,  may  be  gathered  from 
Homer's  account  of  Telemachus's  reception  at  the  palace 
of  King  Menelaus  in  Sparta.  He  and  his  friend  Pisistratus 
are  conducted  into  the  great  hall,  where,  after  having 
bathed  and  anointed  themselves  and  put  on  fresh  rai- 
ment, they  are  received  by  their  host,  Menelaus.  They 
are  placed  on  chairs  beside  him,  and  a  repast  is  brought, 
of  which  they  are  invited  to  partake.  Menelaus  does 
not  yet  know  who  his  guests  are,  but  he  has  observed 
that  Telemachus  weeps  when  Odysseus  is  mentioned  in 
conversation. 

While  he  is  pondering  on  this,  Helen  comes  forth  into 
the  hall  from  her  "fragrant  vaulted  chamber"  in  the 
inner  or  woman's  part  of  the  house.  With  her  are  three 
handmaids,  one  of  whom  sets  for  her  the  well-wrought 
chair,  a  second  brings  a  rug  of  soft  wool,  while  the  third 
places  at  her  side  a  silver  basket  on  wheels,  across  which 
is  laid  a  golden  distaff  charged  with  wool  of  violet  blue. 
Helen  immediately  takes  a  leading  part  in  the  entertain- 
ment of  the  guests,  one  of  whom,  with  woman's  intuition, 
she  is  the  first  to  recognize,  and  they  converse  far  into  the 
night.  Then  good  cheer  is  spread  before  them,  and  Helen 
casts  into  the  wine  whereof  they  drink  "  a  drug  to  lull  all 
pain  and  anger  and  bring  forgetfulness  to  every  sorrow." 
Presently  Helen  bids  her  handmaids  show  with  torches 
the  guests  to  their  beds  beneath  the  corridors,  where  bed- 
steads have  been  set  with  purple  blankets  and  coverlets 
and  thin  mantles  upon  them. 

Here,  in  her  royal  palace,  Helen  is  in  every  sense  a 
queen.  Endowed  with  charms  of  intellect,  as  well  as  of 
person,  she  regulates  the  life  and  determines  the  tone 


WOMANHOOD  IN  THE   HEROIC  AGE  29 

of  the  society  about  her;  and  she  is  but  an  example  of 
the  high  social  position  of  the  Homeric  women. 

The  Homeric  matron  had  as  her  regular  duties  the 
management  of  the  household,  and  was  trained  in  every 
domestic  occupation.  Spinning  and  weaving  were  her 
chief  accomplishments,  and  all  the  Homeric  heroines  were 
highly  skilled  in  the  textile  arts.  The  garments  worn 
by  the  men  were  fashioned  at  home  by  handmaidens 
under  the  superintendence  of  their  mistress,  who  herself 
engaged  in  the  work.  Penelope  had  fifty  slave  maidens 
to  direct  in  the  various  duties  of  the  household.  The 
daughters  of  Celeus,  like  Rebecca  of  old,  went  to  the  well 
to  draw  water  for  household  use;  and  the  clothes  washing 
of  the  Princess  Nausicaa  and  her  maidens  has  been  already 
mentioned.  So,  by  the  side  of  the  refinement  and  elegance 
of  the  Homeric  Age  we  have  a  simplicity  of  manners  that 
but  adds  to  the  charm. 

In  spite  of  these  beautiful  instances  of  domestic  harmony 
and  affection,  the  women  of  Homer  had  really  no  rights,  in 
the  modern  sense  of  the  term.  Throughout  the  whole  of 
life  their  position  was  subject  to  the  will  or  the  whims 
of  men.  At  marriage,  woman  merely  passed  from  the 
tutelage  of  her  father  to  that  of  her  husband,  who  had 
absolute  power  over  her.  But  though  the  power  of  the 
husband  was  absolute,  yet  he  was  generally  deferential 
toward  the  wife  he  loved,  and  was  frequently  guided  by 
her  opinions.  Thus,  the  Phaeacians  say  of  Queen  Arete: 
"  Friends,  this  speech  of  our  wise  queen  is  not  wide  of  the 
mark,  nor  far  from  our  deeming,  so  hearken  thereto.  But 
on  A  lei  nous  here  both  word  and  work  depend."  With 
Arete  lay  the  real  seat  of  authority,  though  she  could 
claim  no  rights,  and  doubtless  the  tactful  and  clever 
Homeric  woman  was,  as  a  rule,  the  dominating  influence 
in  the  palace. 


30  WOMAN 

When  the  husband  died,  the  grown-up  son  succeeded 
to  his  rights,  and  it  was  in  his  power,  if  he  saw  fit,  to  give 
his  widowed  mother  again  in  marriage.  Penelope's  obedi- 
ence to  her  son  Telemachus  is  one  of  the  striking  features 
of  the  Odyssey.  He  had  it  in  his  power  to  give  her  in 
marriage  to  any  of  the  suitors,  but  he  refrained,  from  filial 
affection  and  mercenary  motives.  "  It  can  in  no  wise  be 
that  I  thrust  forth  from  the  house,  against  her  will,  the 
woman  that  bare  me  and  reared  me,"  says  Telemachus; 
and  he  continues:  "  Moreover,  it  is  hard  for  me  to  make 
heavy  restitution  to  Icarius,  as  needs  I  must  if,  of  my  own 
will,  I  send  my  mother  away." 

Far  worse,  however,  was  the  lot  of  the  widow  whose 
husband  had  been  slain  in  battle.  She  became  at  once 
the  slave  of  the  conqueror,  to  be  dealt  with  as  he  wished. 
Hector  draws  a  gloomy  picture  of  the  fate  of  Andromache 
in  case  he  should  be  slain:  "  Yea,  of  a  surety  I  know  this  in 
heart  and  soul;  the  day  shall  come  for  holy  Ilium  to  be  laid 
low,  and  Priam  and  the  folk  of  Priam  of  the  good  ashen 
spear.  Yet  doth  the  anguish  of  the  Trojans  hereafter 
not  so  much  trouble  me,  neither  Hecuba's  own,  neither 
King  Priam's,  neither  my  brethren's,  the  many  and  brave 
that  shall  fall  in  the  dust  before  their  foemen,  as  doth  thine 
anguish  in  the  day  when  some  mail-clad  Achsean  shall 
lead  thee  weeping  and  rob  thee  of  the  light  of  freedom. 
So  shalt  thou  abide  in  Argos  and  ply  the  loom  at  another 
woman's  bidding,  and  bear  water  from  Fount  Messeis  or 
Hyperia,  being  grievously  entreated,  and  sore  constraint 
shall  be  laid  upon  thee.  And  then  shall  one  say  that  be- 
holdeth  thee  weep:  '  This  is  the  wife  of  Hector,  that  was 
foremost  in  battle  of  the  horse-training  Trojans,  when  men 
fought  about  Ilium.'  Thus  shall  one  say  hereafter,  and 
fresh  grief  will  be  thine  for  lack  of  such  an  husband  as 
thou  hadst  to  ward  off  the  day  of  thraldom.  But  me  in 


WOMANHOOD  IN  THE   HEROIC  AGE  31 

death  may  the  heaped-up  earth  be  covering,  ere  I  hear 
thy  crying  and  thy  carrying  into  captivity."  Similar 
lamentations  over  the  harsh  treatment  of  the  widows  and 
the  sad  lot  of  the  orphans,  when  the  natural  protector  had 
been  slain,  occur  again  and  again.  When  taken  captive, 
the  noblest  ladies  became  the  concubines  of  the  victor,  and 
were  disposed  of  at  his  pleasure.  Briseis  is  a  striking 
instance  of  this.  She  was  a  maiden  of  princely  descent, 
whose  husband  and  brother  had  been  slain  by  Achilles. 
Yet  she  looked  upon  her  position  as  a  captive  as  quite  in 
the  natural  order  of  things.  She  manifestly  became  much 
attached  to  her  captor,  and  left  "all  unwillingly"  when 
she  was  carried  off  to  Agamemnon's  tent.  When  she  was 
restored  to  Achilles,  she  laments  the  fallen  Patroclus,  who 
had  promised  to  make  her  godlike  Achilles's  wedded  wife. 

Many  female  slaves  of  noble  descent  are  mentioned  by 
Homer,  and  their  positions  in  the  households  of  their  mis- 
tresses are  frequently  of  importance.  Thus  Euryclea, 
who  had  nurtured  Odysseus  and  reared  Telemachus, 
was  practically  at  the  head  of  the  domestic  affairs  of  the 
palace,  and  her  relations  with  Penelope  were  most  af- 
fectionate. The  other  slaves  were  divided  into  several 
classes,  according  to  their  different  qualities  and  abilities. 
To  some  were  assigned  the  menial  offices,  such  as  turning 
the  handmills,  drawing  the  water,  and  preparing  the  food 
for  their  master;  while  others  were  engaged  in  spinning 
and  weaving,  under  the  direct  oversight  of  their  lady 
mistress. 

It  is  but  natural  that  the  great  ladies  of  heroic  times, 
reared  in  the  luxury  of  courts,  attended  by  numerous 
slaves,  and  exercising  an  elevating  influence  over  their 
husbands  through  their  personal  charms,  should  devote 
great  attention  to  the  elegancies  of  the  costume  and  the 
toilet.  The  Greek  love  of  beauty  led  to  love  of  dress. 


32  WOMAN 

Numerous  epithets  point  to  this  characteristic  of  Homeric 
ladies;  as  "with  beautiful  peplus,"  "well-girdled,"  "with 
beautiful  zone,"  "with  beautiful  veil,"  "with  beautiful 
sandal,"  and  the  like;  and  care  in  dressing  the  hair  is 
seen  in  such  phrases  as  "with  goodly  locks,"  "with 
glossy  locks." 

The  Homeric  poems  describe  for  us  the  dress  of  the 
^olico-Ionians  down  to  the  ninth  or  eighth  centuries 
before  Christ,  and  it  differs  in  many  important  particulars 
from  that  of  the  classical  period  as  seen  in  the  Parthenon 
marbles. 

The  women  wore  only  one  outer  garment,  the  peplus, 
brought  to  Hellas  from  Asia  by  the  Aryans,  which  garment 
the  Dorian  women  continued  to  wear  until  a  late  period. 
The  peplus  in  its  simplest  form  consisted  of  an  oblong 
piece  of  the  primitive  homemade  woollen  cloth,  unshapen 
and  unsewn,  open  at  the  sides,  and  fastened  on  the  shoul- 
ders by  fibula,  and  bound  by  a  girdle;  but,  undoubtedly, 
as  worn  by  Homeric  princesses  it  assumed  a  much  more 
regular  pattern  and  was  richly  embroidered.  The  pharos 
was  probably  a  linen  garment  of  Egyptian  origin,  which  was 
sometimes  worn  instead  of  the  peplus.  Thus  the  nymph 
Calypso  "  donned  a  great  shining  pharos,  light  of  woof  and 
gracious,  and  about  her  waist  she  cast  a  fair  golden  girdle, 
and  a  veil  withal  on  her  head."  Both  these  garments  left 
the  arms  bare,  and,  while  frequently  of  some  length  behind, 
as  seen  in  the  epithet  "the  robe-trailing  Trojan  dames," 
were  short  enough  in  front  to  allow  the  feet  to  appear. 

As  the  peplus  was  open  at  the  sides,  the  girdle  was  the 
second  most  important  article  of  feminine  attire.  This 
was  frequently  of  gold,  as  in  Calypso's  case,  and  adorned 
with  tassels,  as  was  Hera's  girdle  with  its  hundred  tassels 
"  of  pure  gold,  all  deftly  woven,  and  each  one  worth  an 
hundred  oxen."  But  the  girdle  of  girdles  was  the  magic 


WOMANHOOD  IN  THE  HEROIC  AGE  33 

cestus  of  golden  Aphrodite,  which  Hera  borrowed  in  order 
to  captivate  Zeus.  The  tightened  girdle  made  the  dress 
full  over  the  bosom,  so  that  the  epithet  "deep-bosomed  " 
— that  is,  with  full,  swelling  bosom — became  frequent. 
Another  characteristic  article  of  dress  was  the  kredemnon, 
a  kind  of  veil,  of  linen  or  of  silk,  in  color  generally  white, 
though  at  times  dark  blue.  It  was  worn  over  the  head,  and 
allowed  to  fall  down  the  back  and  the  sides  of  the  head, 
leaving  the  face  uncovered.  There  was  no  garment,  like 
a  cloak,  to  be  worn  over  the  peplus.  For  freer  movement 
women  would  cast  off  the  mantle-like  kredemnon,  which 
answered  all  the  purposes  of  a  shawl.  Thus  Nausicaa 
and  her  companions,  when  preparing  for  the  game  of  ball, 
"  cast  off  their  tires  and  began  the  song,"  and  Hecuba,  in 
her  violent  grief,  "tore  her  hair  and  cast  from  her  the 
shining  veil."  There  were  also  metal  ornaments  for 
the  head,  the  stephane,  or  coronal,  and  the  ampyx,  a  head- 
band or  frontlet.  The  hekryphalos  was  probably  a  caplike 
net,  bound  by  a  woven  band;  Andromache  "shook  off 
from  her  head  the  bright  attire  thereof,  the  net,  and  woven 
band."  Other  feminine  ornaments  were:  the  isthmian,  a 
necklace,  fitting  close  to  the  neck;  the  hormos,  a  long  chain, 
sometimes  of  gold  and  amber,  hanging  from  the  nape  of 
the  neck  over  the  breast;  and  peronce,  or  brooches,  and 
ear-rings  of  various  shapes,  either  globular,  spiral,  or  in 
the  form  of  a  cup.  Helen,  for  example,  "set  ear-rings 
in  her  pierced  ear,  ear-rings  of  three  drops  and  glistening; 
therefrom  shone  grace  abundant." 

To  embrace  in  one  general  description  these  various 
articles  of  feminine  attire,  "we  may  think  of  Helen  as 
arrayed  in  a  colored  peplus,  richly  embroidered  and  per- 
fumed, the  corners  of  which  were  drawn  tightly  over  the 
shoulders  and  fastened  together  by  the  perone.  The  waist 
was  closely  encircled  by  the  zone,  which  was,  no  doubt, 


34  WOMAN 

of  rich  material  and  design.  Over  her  bosom  hung  the 
hormos  of  dark  red  amber  set  in  gold.  Her  hair  hung 
down  in  artificial  plaits,  and  on  her  head  was  the  high, 
stiff  kekryphalos,  of  which  we  have  spoken  above,  bound 
in  the  middle  by  the  plekte  anadesme.  Over  the  forehead 
was  the  shining  ampyx,  or  tiara,  of  gold;  and  from  the  top 
of  the  head  fell  the  kredemnon,  or  veil,  over  the  shoulders 
and  back,  affording  a  quiet  foil  to  the  glitter  of  gold  and 
jewels." 

Such  is  the  picture  of  the  Heroic  Age  as  drawn  for  us 
by  Homer.  It  is  a  bright  picture  in  the  main,  though  the 
treatment  of  the  widows  and  the  captive  maidens  throws 
on  it  dark  shadows.  But  when  we  become  acquainted 
with  the  heroines  of  this  age,  and  study  their  characters 
in  the  environment  in  which  Homer  places  them,  we  shall 
be  all  the  more  impressed  with  the  high  status  maintained 
by  the  gentler  sex  at  the  dawn  of  Greek  civilization. 

Before  treating  of  the  heroines  of  Homer,  however,  let 
us  briefly  notice  the  maidens  and  matrons  of  Greek  my- 
thology who  do  not  figure  so  conspicuously  in  the  Chron- 
icles of  the  Trojan  War,  but  who  have  won  a  permanent 
place  in  art  and  in  literature. 

We  should  not  fail  to  mention  the  mortal  loves  who 
became  through  Zeus  the  mothers  of  heroes, — Europa, 
whom  he  wooed  in  the  form  of  a  white  bull,  and  carried 
away  to  Crete,  where  she  became  the  mother  of  Minos, 
Rhadamanthus,  and  Sarpedon;  Semele,  who  was  overcome 
with  terror  when  Zeus  appeared  in  all  his  godlike  array, 
and  who  gave  birth  to  Dionysus,  god  of  the  vine;  Leda, 
wooed  by  Zeus  in  the  guise  of  a  snow-white  swan,  the 
mother  of  Helen,  and  of  Castor  and  Pollux;  Alcmene, 
mother  of  Heracles;  Callisto,  changed,  with  her  little  son 
Areas,  because  of  the  jealousy  of  Hera,  into  the  constella- 
tions known  as  the  Great  and  the  Little  Bear;  and,  finally, 


WOMANHOOD  IN  THE  HEROIC  AGE  35 

Danae,  daughter  of  Acrisius,  King  of  Argos,  locked  up 
by  her  tyrannical  father  in  a  brazen  tower,  but  visited  by 
Zeus  as  a  golden  shower.  The  offspring  of  this  union 
was  the  hero  Perseus.  King  Acrisius,  in  dread  of  a 
prophecy  that  he  was  destined  to  be  slain  by  his  grand- 
son, had  the  mother  and  helpless  infant  enclosed  in  an 
empty  cask,  which  was  consigned  to  the  fury  of  the  sea. 
Terrified  at  the  sound  of  the  great  waves  beating  over  their 
heads,  Danae  prayed  to  the  gods  to  watch  over  them  and 
bring  them  to  some  friendly  shore.  Her  piteous  prayers 
were  answered,  and  mother  and  child  were  rescued  and 
found  a  hospitable  haven  on  the  island  of  Seriphos. 

"  When  rude  around  the  high-wrought  ark 
The  tempests  raged,  the  waters  dark 
Around  the  mother  tossed  and  swelled ; 
With  not  unmoistened  cheek  she  held 
Her  Perseus  in  her  arms  and  said : 
'  What  sorrows  bow  this  hapless  head ! 
Thou  sleepst  the  while,  thy  gentle  breast 
Is  heaving  in  unbroken  rest, 
In  this  our  dark,  unjoyous  home, 
Clamped  with  the  rugged  brass;,  the  gloom 
Scarce  broken  by  the  doubtful  light 
That  gleams  from  yon  dim  fires  of  night 
But  thou,  unwet  thy  clustering  hair, 

Heedst  not  the  billows  raging  wild, 
The  meanings  of  the  bitter  air, 

Wrapt  in  thy  purple  robe,  my  beauteous  child ! 
Oh !  seemed  this  peril  perilous  to  thee, 

How  sadly  to  my  words  of  fear 

Wouldst  thou  bend  down  thy  listening  ear  1 
But  now  sleep  on,  my  child !  sleep  thou,  wide  sea ! 
Sleep,  my  unutterable  agony ! 

Oh !  change  thy  counsels,  Jove,  our  sorrows  end  ! 

And  if  my  rash,  intemperate  zeal  offend, 
For  my  child's  sake,  his  father,  pardon  me  ! '  " 

The  god  Apollo,  too,  had  his  mortal  loves:  the  fair 
maiden  Coronis,  whom  in  a  fit  of  jealousy  he  shot  through 


36  WOMAN 

the  heart, — the  mother  of  ^sculapius,  the  god  of  healing; 
Daphne,  the  beautiful  nymph,  who  would  not  listen  to 
his  entreaties,  and  was  finally  changed  into  a  laurel  tree; 
and  the  muse  Calliope,  by  whom  he  became  the  father 
of  Orpheus,  who  inherited  his  parent's  musical  and  poet- 
ical gifts.  The  story  of  the  loves  of  Orpheus  and  his 
beautiful  wife,  Eurydice,  is  one  of  the  most  touching  in 
all  literature:  how  she  died  from  the  bite  of  a  venomous 
serpent,  and  her  spirit  was  conducted  down  to  the  gloomy 
realms  of  Hades,  leaving  Orpheus  broken-hearted;  how 
Zeus  gave  him  permission  to  go  down  into  the  inferna? 
regions  to  seek  his  wife;  how  he  appeased  even  Cerberus's 
rage  by  his  music,  and  Hades  and  Proserpina  consented 
to  restore  Eurydice  to  life  and  to  her  husband's  care,  but 
on  the  one  condition  that  he  should  leave  the  infernal 
regions  without  once  turning  to  look  into  the  face  of  his 
beloved  wife;  and  how  he  observed  the  mandate  until 
just  before  he  reached  the  earth,  when  he  turned,  only  to 
behold  the  vanishing  form  of  the  wife  he  had  so  nearly 
snatched  from  the  grave.  The  rest  of  his  days  were 
passed  in  sadness,  and  finally  some  Bacchantes,  enraged 
at  his  sad  notes,  tore  him  limb  from  limb,  and  cast  his 
mangled  remains  into  the  river  Hebrus.  "As  the  poet- 
musician's  head  floated  down  the  stream,  the  pallid  lips 
still  murmured  '  Eurydice!'  for  even  in  death  he  could  not 
forget  his  wife;  and  as  his  spirit  floated  on  to  join  her,  he 
incessantly  called  upon  her  name,  until  the  brooks,  trees, 
and  fountains  he  had  loved  so  well  caught  up  the  longing 
cry  and  repeated  it  again  and  again." 

The  story  of  Niobe  is  one  of  the  best-known  Greek 
legends,  because  of  its  exquisite  portrayal  in  art.  Niobe, 
daughter  of  Tantalus,  the  mother  of  fourteen  children, — 
seven  manly  sons  and  seven  beautiful  daughters, — in  her 
pride  taunted  the  goddess  Latona,  mother  of  Apollo  and 


WOMANHOOD  IN  THE  HEROIC  AGE  37 

Artemis,  because  her  offspring  numbered  only  two.  She 
even  went  so  far  as  to  forbid  her  people  to  worship  the 
two  deities,  and  ordered  that  all  the  statues  of  them  in  her 
kingdom  should  be  torn  down  and  destroyed.  Enraged  at 
the  insult,  Latona  called  her  children  to  her,  and  bade 
them  slay  all  the  children  of  Niobe.  Apollo,  therefore, 
coming  upon  the  seven  lads  as  they  were  hunting,  slew 
them  with  his  unfailing  arrows;  and  while  the  mother  was 
grieving  for  the  loss  of  her  sons,  Artemis  began  to  slay 
her  daughters.  In  vain  did  the  mother  strive  to  protect 
them,  and  one  by  one*  they  fell,  never  to  rise  again. 
Then  the  gods,  touched  by  her  woe,  changed  her  into 
stone  just  as  she  stood,  with  upturned  face,  streaming 
eyes,  and  quivering  lips. 

Three  other  heroines  of  mythology  deserve  to  be  en- 
rolled within  this  brief  chronicle:  Andromeda,  Ariadne, 
and  Atalanta.  The  Princess  Andromeda,  a  lovely  maiden, 
was  being  offered  as  a  sacrifice  to  a  terrible  sea  monster 
who  was  devastating  the  coast.  She  was  chained  fast  to 
an  overhanging  rock,  above  the  foaming  billows  that  con- 
tinually dashed  their  spray  over  her  fair  limbs.  As  the 
monster  was  about  to  carry  her  off  as  his  prey,  the  hero 
Perseus,  returning  from  his  conquest  of  Medusa,  suddenly 
appeared  as  a  deliverer,  slew  the  monster,  freed  An-* 
dromeda  from  her  chains,  restored  her  to  the  arms  of  her 
overjoyed  parent,  and  thus  won  the  princess  as  his  bride. 

Far  more  pathetic  is  the  story  of  the  Princess  Ariadne, 
daughter  of  King  Minos  of  Crete,  who  fell  in  love  with 
the  Athenian  hero  Theseus  when  he  came  to  rescue  the 
Athenian  youths  and  maidens  from  the  terrible  Minotaur. 
She  provided  him  with  a  sword  and  with  a  ball  of  twine, 
enabling  him  to  slay  the  monster  and  to  thread  his  way 
out  of  the  inextricable  mazes  of  the  labyrinth.  Theseus 
in  gratitude  carried  her  off  as  his  bride;  but  on  the  island 


38  WOMAN 

of  Naxos  he  basely  deserted  her,  and  Ariadne  was  left 
disconsolate.  Violent  was  her  grief;  but  in  the  place  of  a 
fickle  mortal  lover,  she  became  the  fair  bride  of  an  im- 
mortal, the  genial  god  Dionysus,  who  discovered  her  on 
the  island  and  wooed  and  won  her. 

Atalanta,  the  third  of  this  illustrious  group,  the  daugh- 
ter of  lasius,  King  of  Arcadia,  was  a  famous  runner  and 
sportswoman.  She  took  part  with  Meleager  in  the  grand 
hunt  for  the  Calydonian  boar,  and  it  was  she  who  at  last 
brought  the  boar  to  bay  and  gave  him  a  mortal  wound. 
When  Atalanta  returned  to  her  father's  court,  she  had 
numberless  suitors  for  her  hand;  but,  anxious  to  preserve 
her  freedom,  she  imposed  the  condition  that  every  suitor 
should  engage  with  her  in  a  footrace:  if  he  were  beaten, 
his  life  was  forfeited;  if  successful,  she  would  become  his 
bride.  Many  had  thus  lost  their  lives.  Finally,  Hip- 
pomenes,  a  youth  under  the  protection  of  Aphrodite,  who 
had  bestowed  on  him  three  golden  apples,  desired  to  race 
with  the  princess.  Atalanta  soon  passed  her  antagonist, 
but,  as  she  did  so,  a  golden  apple  fell  at  her  feet.  She 
stooped  to  pick  it  up,  and  Hippomenes  regained  the  lead. 
Again  she  passed  him,  and  again  a  golden  apple  caused 
her  to  pause,  and  Hippomenes  shot  ahead.  Finally,  just 
as  she  was  about  to  reach  the  goal,  the  third  golden  apple 
tempted  her  to  stop  once  more,  and  Hippomenes  won  the 
race  and  a  peerless  bride. 


of  tfje  JUafc 


Ill 

WOMEN  OF  THE   ILIAD 

THE  reader  of  the  Iliad  and  the  Odyssey  finds  himself 
in  an  atmosphere  altogether  human.  As  he  peruses  these 
pages,  so  rich  in  pictures  of  the  life  and  manners  of  heroic 
times,  it  matters  little  to  him  whether  the  men  and  women 
of  epic  song  had  merely  a  mythical  existence,  or  were,  in 
fact,  historical  figures.  The  contemporaries  of  Homer  and 
later  Greeks  had  an  unshaken  belief  in  the  reality  of  those 
men  and  women;  and  the  poet  has  breathed  into  them  the 
breath  of  genius,  which  gives  life  and  immortality. 

We  have  in  these  poems  the  most  ancient  expression  of 
the  national  sentiment  of  the  Greeks,  and  from  them  we 
can  form  a  correct  idea  of  the  relations  of  men  and  women 
in  prehistoric  times,  and  of  the  character  and  status  of 
woman  in  the  childhood  of  the  Greek  world. 

It  is  a  noteworthy  fact  that  the  plots  of  both  the  Iliad 
and  the  Odyssey — as  well  as  the  most  interesting  episodes 
they  contain — turn  upon  love  for  women;  and  a  clear  idea 
of  the  importance  of  woman  in  the  Heroic  Age  could  not 
be  given  better  than  by  briefly  reviewing  the  brilliant 
panorama  of  warlike  and  domestic  scenes  in  which  woman 
figures. 

We  are  first  introduced  to  a  Greek  camp  in  Troy  land. 
During  ten  long  years  the  hosts  of  the  Achasans  have 


42  WOMAN 

been  gathered  before  the  walls  of  Ilium.  What  is  the 
cause  of  this  long  struggle?  A  woman!  Paris,  son  of 
King  Priam,  had  carried  off  to  his  native  city  Queen 
Helen,  wife  of  Menelaus,  King  of  Sparta.  Aided  by  the 
wiles  of  Aphrodite,  to  whom  he  had  awarded  the  golden 
apple  as  the  fairest  in  the  contest  of  the  three  goddesses, 
Hera,  Athena,  and  Aphrodite,  Paris  succeeded  in  winning 
the  heart  of  this  fairest  of  Greek  women  and  in  per- 
suading her  to  desert  husband  and  daughter  to  follow  the 
fortunes  of  a  handsome  stranger.  On  the  isle  of  Cranae 
their  nuptial  rites  were  celebrated,  and  after  much  voy- 
aging they  reached  their  new  home  in  Troy,  where  King 
Priam,  fascinated  with  the  beauty  and  grace  of  this  new 
daughter,  in  spite  of  his  dread  of  the  consequences,  gra- 
ciously received  the  errant  pair.  The  Greek  chieftains 
bound  themselves  by  an  inviolable  oath  to  assist  the  for- 
saken husband  to  recover  his  spouse,  and,  marshalling 
their  forces,  they  entered  upon  the  long  and  tedious  war. 
Thus,  a  woman  was  the  cause  of  the  first  great  struggle 
between  Orient  and  Occident,  of  the  assembling  of  the 
mighty  hosts  of  the  Achaeans  under  King  Agamemnon, 
of  ten  years  of  siege  and  struggle  and  innumerable 
wars,  of  the  hurling  of  many  valiant  souls  to  Hades, 
of  the  fall  of  Troy,  and  of  the  varied  wanderings  and 
dire  fortunes  of  the  surviving  heroes  and  heroines  of  the 
epic  story.  ..- 

The  Iliad  does  not  tell  the  whole  story  of  the  Trojan 
War;  Homer  invites  the  muse  to  sing  of  but  one  episode 
thereof — the  dire  wrath  of  Achilles.  The  cause  of  that 
violent  outburst  is  also  a  woman.  The  Greek  chieftains 
are  gathered  in  the  place  of  assembly,  along  the  banks  of 
the  Scamander.  In  their  midst  is  an  aged  priest  of  the 
town  of  Chryse,  bearing  in  his  hand  the  fillets  of  Apollo, 
the  Far-darter,  upon  a  golden  staff.  He  beseeches  the 


WOMEN  OF  THE  ILIAD  43 

Greeks  to  restore  to  him  his  dear  child,  the  maiden  Chry- 
seis,  their  captive,  and  to  accept  in  return  the  proffered 
ransom,  reverencing  the  god.  There  is  a  sympathetic 
murmur  among  the  chieftains,  who  urge  the  granting  of 
the  petition;  but  the  thing  pleases  not  the  heart  of  Aga- 
memnon, king  of  men,  who  had  received  the  beautiful 
captive  as  his  own  share  of  the  booty,  and  for  love  of  her 
will  not  give  her  up.  So  he  roughly  sends  the  old  man 
away,  and  lays  stern  charge  upon  him  not  to  be  seen  again 
near  the  ships  of  the  Achaeans.  Outraged  in  his  dignity 
as  a  priest  and  in  his  tenderness  as  a  father,  the  aged  sire 
prays  to  Apollo,  who  at  once  sends  dire  pestilence  upon 
the  Greeks;  and  the  pyres  of  the  dead  burn  continually  in 
multitude.  Nine  days  speed  the  god's  shafts  throughout 
the  host,  and  on  the  tenth  the  valiant  warrior  Achilles 
summons  the  folk  to  assembly,  and  bids  Galenas,  "  most 
excellent  of  augurs,"  declare  the  cause  of  the  pestilence. 
Calchas,  after  much  hesitation,  responds  that  the  Far- 
darter  has  brought  war  upon  the  Greeks  because  Aga- 
memnon has  done  despite  to  the  priest,  and  has  not  set 
his  daughter  free  and  accepted  the  ransom. 

Agamemnon  is  violently  enraged  at  the  seer;  his  dark 
heart  within  him  is  greatly  filled  with  anger,  and  his  eyes 
are  like  flashing  fire.  He  charges  the  seer  with  never 
saying  anything  that  is  pleasant  for  him  to  hear.  And  as 
for  Chryseis,  he  would  fain  keep  her  himself  in  his  house- 
hold; for  he  prefers  her  even  before  Clytemnestra,  his 
wedded  wife,  to  whom  she  is  nowise  inferior,  neither  in 
favor  nor  stature  nor  wit  nor  skill.  Yet  if  she  be  taken 
away  from  him  for  the  good  of  the  people,  he  demands 
another  prize  forthwith,  that  alone  of  the  Greeks  he  may 
not  be  without  reward.  Then  is  the  valiant  Achilles  en- 
raged at  the  covetousness  of  his  chief,  and  a  violent 
quarrel  ensues.  At  last,  Agamemnon  asserts  that  he  will 


44  WOMAN 

send  back  Chryseis,  but  he  will  come  and  take  in  re- 
turn Achilles's  meed  of  honor,  Briseis  of  the  fair  cheeks, 
that  Achilles  may  know  how  far  the  mightier  is  he  and  that 
no  other  may  hereafter  dare  to  rival  him  to  his  face. 

Then  is  the  son  of  Peleus  the  more  enraged,  and,  had 
not  the  goddess  Athena  appeared  and  restrained  his  wrath, 
he  would  have  assailed  Agamemnon  on  the  spot.  How- 
ever, he  speaks  again  with  bitter  words  and  declares  that 
hereafter  longing  for  Achilles  will  come  upon  the  Achaeans 
one  and  all;  for  no  more  will  he  fight  with  the  Greeks 
against  the  Trojans.  So  the  assembly  breaks  up,  after 
this  battle  of  violent  words  between  the  twain.  Achilles 
returns  to  his  huts  and  trim  ships,  with  Patroclus  and 
his  company;  and  Agamemnon  sends  forth  Odysseus 
and  others  on  a  fleet  ship  to  bear  back  to  her  father  the 
lovely  Chryseis,  and  to  offer  a  hecatomb  to  Apollo.  Thus 
Chryseis  is  restored  to  her  father's  arms,  and  appears  no 
more  in  the  story. 

But  Atrides  ceases  not  from  the  strife  with  which  he 
has  threatened  Achilles.  He  summons  straightway  two 
heralds,  and  bids  them  go  to  the  tent  of  Achilles  and  take 
Briseis  of  the  fair  cheeks  by  the  hand  and  lead  her  to  him. 
Unwillingly  they  go  on  their  mission,  and  find  the  young 
warrior  sitting  sorrowfully  beside  his  hut  and  black  ship. 
He  knows  wherefore  they  come,  and  bids  his  friend  Patro- 
clus bring  forth  the  damsel  and  give  them  her  to  lead 
away.  And  Patroclus  hearkens  to  his  dear  companion, 
and  leads  forth  from  the  hut  Briseis  of  the  fair  cheeks,  and 
gives  her  to  the  heralds.  And  the  twain  take  their  way 
back  along  the  ships  of  the  Achasans  and  with  them  goes 
the  maiden,  all  unwilling. 

In  this  moment  of  grief  at  the  loss  of  the  woman  he 
loves,  Achilles  bethinks  him  of  his  dear  mother,  the  Nereid 
Thetis,  and,  stretching  forth  his  hand  toward  the  sea,  he 


WOMEN  OF  THE  ILIAD  45 

prays  to  her  to  hearken  to  him.  His  lady  mother  hears 
him  as  she  sits  in  the  sea  depths  beside  her  aged  sire,  and 
with  speed  she  arises  from  the  gray  sea,  and  sits  down 
beside  him  and  strokes  him  with  her  hand  and  inquires 
the  cause  of  his  sorrow.  Into  her  sympathetic  ear  he 
tells  all  the  story  of  his  wrongs,  and  the  goddess  shows 
herself  the  tenderest  and  most  loving  of  mothers.  He 
bids  her  seek  justice  for  him  at  the  throne  of  mighty  Zeus, 
with  whom  she  is  potent  on  account  of  favors  she  has 
done  him.  She  bewails  with  her  son  that  she  has  borne 
him  to  brief  life  and  evil  destiny;  but  she  bids  him  con- 
tinue wroth  with  the  Achasans,  and  refrain  utterly  from 
battle,  while  she  will  early  fare  to  Zeus's  palace  upon 
Mount  Olympus,  and  she  thinks  to  win  him.  True  to  her 
promise,  she  betakes  herself  to  sunny  Olympus  and  finds 
the  father  of  gods  and  men  sitting  apart  from  all  the  rest 
upon  the  topmost  peak.  She  clasps  his  knees  with  one 
hand  as  a  suppliant  and  with  the  other  strokes  his  chin, 
and  prays  him  to  do  honor  to  her  son  and  exalt  him  with 
recompense  for  the  gross  wrong  he  has  suffered.  And 
Zeus,  though  he  knows  that  it  will  lead  to  strife  with 
Lady  Hera,  his  spouse,  promises  to  heap  just  vengeance 
upon  Agamemnon. 

Thus,  upon  the  very  threshold  of  the  Iliad,  the  chord  of 
maternal  affection  is  struck;  and  when  the  wild  passions 
of  early  manhood  have  led  to  sorrow  and  humiliation,  the 
mother  appears,  affording  sympathy  and  comfort,  and  is 
ready  to  traverse  sea  and  earth  and  heaven  to  intercede 
for  her  wronged  and  grief-stricken  son. 

Achilles  remains  away  from  battle,  sulking  beside  the 
ships.  The  odds  are  now  in  favor  of  the  Trojans  in 
the  conflict  that  is  being  waged.  Both  sides  are  weary 
of  continual  fighting,  and  a  single  combat  is  arranged  be- 
tween Menelaus  and  Paris,  the  wronged  husband  and  the 


46  WOMAN 

present  lord  of  Helen.  The  meed  of  victory  is  to  be  Helen 
herself,  with  all  her  treasures,  she  now  appearing  for  the 
first  time  in  the  Epos. 

Helen  is  summoned  from  her  palace  to  witness  the  com- 
bat. So  she  hastens  from  her  chamber,  attended  by  two 
handmaidens,  and  comes  to  the  place  of  the  Scasan  gates, 
where  are  gathered  King  Priam  and  the  elders  of  the  city. 

Homer  nowhere  attempts  to  describe  Helen's  beauty  in 
detail,  but  impresses  it  upon  the  reader  merely  by  show- 
ing the  bewitching  effect  of  her  presence  upon  others. 
Even  these  sage  old  men  fall  under  the  spell  of  her  divine 
beauty,  and,  when  they  see  her  coming  upon  the  towers, 
softly  speak  winged  words,  one  to  the  other: 

"  Small  blame  is  it  that  Trojans  and  well-greaved 
Achaeans  should  for  such  a  woman  long  time  suffer  hard- 
ships; marvellously  like  is  she  to  the  immortal  goddesses 
to  look  upon.  Yet  even  so,  though  she  be  so  goodly,  let 
her  go  upon  their  ships  and  not  stay  to  vex  us  and  our 
children  after  us." 

Priam,  however,  addresses  his  beautiful  daughter-in-law 
with  gentle  words,  laying  the  blame,  not  on  her,  but  on 
the  gods,  for  the  dolorous  war  of  the  Ach^ans.  Helen 
utters  expressions  of  self-reproach,  and  then,  at  Priam's 
request,  points  out  the  famous  warriors  of  the  invading 
host. 

Paris  is  vanquished  in  the  single  combat,  and  Menelaus 
would  have  slain  his  foe,  and  in  that  moment  have  regained 
Helen,  had  not  the  goddess  Aphrodite  snatched  up  Paris 
in  a  cloud  and  transported  him  to  his  chamber.  Aphro- 
dite then  appears  to  Helen,  in  the  form  of  an  aged  dame, 
and  bids  her  return  to  her  lord.  Helen  recognizes  the  god- 
dess, and  her  scornful,  bitter  reply  shows  how  the  high- 
spirited  lady  rebelled  at  the  chains  with  which  Aphrodite 
bound  her.  The  wrath  and  menace  of  Aphrodite,  however, 


WOMEN  OF  THE  ILIAD  47 

overcome  her  noble  resolution,  and  she  reluctantly  returns. 
When  she  sees  her  husband,  she  chides  him  scornfully 
for  his  cowardice,  and  regrets  that  he  had  not  perished  at 
the  hands  of  Menelaus.  But  Paris  is  unaffected  by  her 
reproaches.  His  thoughts,  as  ever,  are  not  of  war,  but  of 
love,  and  Helen,  owing  to  the  subtle  power  of  Aphrodite, 
cannot  long  resist  his  caresses.  Meanwhile,  the  injured 
husband  rages  through  the  host  like  a  wild  beast,  if  any- 
where he  might  set  his  eyes  on  and  slay  the  wanton 
Paris. 

We  are  now  approaching  a  series  of  domestic  scenes,  in 
which  figure  the  three  principal  female  characters  of  the 
Iliad.  Owing  to  the  abortive  issue  of  the  single  combat, 
the  truce  between  Greeks  and  Trojans  is  declared  at  an 
end,  and  the  forces  once  more  array  themselves  in  conflict. 
The  Trojans  are  being  hard  pressed.  Hector  returns  to 
the  city  to  command  Hecuba,  his  mother,  to  assemble  the 
aged  dames  of  Troy,  who  should  go  to  Athena's  temple 
and  supplicate  the  goddess  to  have  compassion  on  them. 
At  the  gates  the  Trojans'  wives  and  daughters  gather 
about  him,  inquiring  of  their  loved  ones.  As  he  enters 
the  royal  palace,  his  beautiful  mother  meets  him  and  clasps 
him  by  the  hand,  and  bids  him,  weary  of  battle,  pause  to 
take  refreshments.  But  Hector  resists  her  solicitous  en- 
treaties, urges  her  to  gather  the  aged  wives  together,  and, 
with  the  most  beautiful  robe  in  the  palace  as  an  offer- 
ing, to  go  to  the  temple  and  supplicate  Athena  to  have 
mercy.  Hecuba  does  as  he  commands,  and  the  solemn 
procession  mounts  the  citadel  and  implores  the  goddess 
to  have  mercy  on  them  and  turn  the  tide  of  combat.  The 
goddess,  however,  is  inflexible:  she  denies  their  prayer. 

Hector,  meanwhile,  stops  at  the  palace  of  Paris.  He 
finds  Helen  seated  among  her  handmaidens,  distributing 
to  them  their  tasks,  and  Paris  polishing  his  beautiful 


48  WOMAN 

armor.  Hector  severely  rebukes  his  brother;  but  words 
of  scorn  make  but  little  impression  on  the  smooth  and 
courteous  Paris.  Helen  now  addresses  Hector,  for  whom 
she  has  a  sisterly  love  and  admiration  that  contrasts 
painfully  with  her  contempt  for  her  cowardly  lord;  and 
her  words  reveal  the  bitterness  of  her  heart,  because  of  her 
evil  destiny  and  because  "  even  in  days  to  come  we  may 
be  a  song  in  the  ears  of  men  that  shall  be  hereafter." 
Hector  responds  with  sympathetic  regard  to  the  sisterly 
confidence  of  Helen,  and  bids  her  rouse  her  husband  once 
more  to  enter  the  combat,  while  in  the  meantime  he  will 
go  to  his  own  house  to  behold  his  dear  wife  and  infant 
boy;  for  he  knows  not  if  he  shall  return  home  to  them 
again,  or  if  the  gods  will  now  overthrow  him  at  the  hands 
of  the  Achasans. 

When  Hector  comes  to  his  palace,  he  finds  not  his  beau- 
tiful wife,  white-armed  Andromache,  within;  upon  inquiry 
he  learns  that,  through  anxiety  because  of  the  battle,  like 
one  frenzied,  she  had  gone  in  haste  to  the  wall,  and  the 
nurse  bearing  the  child  was  with  her.  Hector  hastens  to 
the  Scaean  gates,  and  as  he  approaches  them  there  came 
his  dear-won  wife,  running  to  meet  him,  and  with  her  the 
handmaid  bearing  in  her  bosom  the  tender  boy,  Hector's 
loved  son  Astyanax.  Hector  smiles  and  gazes  at  the  boy; 
while  Andromache  stands  by  his  side  weeping  and  clasps 
his  hand  in  hers,  and  urges  him  to  take  thought  for  himself 
and  to  have  pity  on  her,  forlorn,  and  on  their  infant  boy. 
Hector  tells  her  that  he  takes  thought  of  all  this,  that  his 
greatest  grief  is  the  thought  of  her  anguish  in  the  day 
when  some  mail-clad  Achaean  shall  lead  her  away  and 
rob  her  of  the  light  of  freedom,  but  it  is  his  part  to  fight 
in  the  forefront  of  the  Trojans.  He  lays  his  son  in  his 
dear  wife's  bosom,  and,  as  she  smiles  tearfully  upon  the 
lad,  her  husband  has  pity  to  see  her,  and  gently  caresses 


WOMEN  OF  THE  ILIAD  49 

her  with  his  hand  and  seeks  to  console  her.  He  bids  her 
return  to  her  own  tasks,  the  loom  and  distaff,  while  he 
provides  for  war.  So  part  these  heroic  souls.  Hector  sets 
out  for  the  battlefield;  and  his  dear  wife  departs  to  her 
home,  oft  looking  back  and  letting  fall  big  tears.  When 
she  reaches  her  house,  she  gathers  her  handmaidens  about 
her,  and  stirs  lamentations  in  them  all.  "So  bewailed 
they  Hector,  while  yet  he  lived,  within  his  house;  for  they 
deemed  that  he  would  no  more  come  home  to  them  from 
battle  nor  escape  the  fury  of  the  hands  of  the  Achasans." 

The  closing  scenes  of  the  dramatic  recital  time  and  again 
present  these  three  women — Hecuba,  Helen,  and  Androm- 
ache. Achilles  continues  to  sulk  away  from  battle,  in  spite 
of  Agamemnon's  attempt  at  reconciliation.  The  Trojans 
are  winning  victory  after  victory.  Achilles's  comrade  Pa- 
troclus  finally  gets  permission  to  don  the  great  warrior's 
armor,  and  he  enters  the  conflict.  Hector,  supposing  him 
to  be  Achilles,  engages  with  him  in  combat  and  finally 
slays  him.  Achilles  is  overwhelmed  with  grief  at  the 
death  of  Patroclus.  His  lady  mother,  Thetis,  rises  from 
the  depths  of  the  sea  to  console  him,  and  provides  him  a 
suit  of  armor  fashioned  by  Hephaestus.  Agamemnon  and 
Achilles  are  reconciled  before  the  assembly  of  the  Achasans, 
and  fair-faced  Briseis  is  restored  to  her  lover.  She  utters 
shrill  laments  over  the  body  of  Patroclus,  who  had  been 
ever  kind  to  her.  Achilles  enters  the  combat,  clad  in  the 
armor  of  Hephaestus.  Hector  alone  dares  to  face  him, 
and  he  is  slain,  and  his  lifeless  body  is  dragged  behind 
Achilles's  chariot  as  he  drives  exultantly  toward  the  ships. 
Piteous  wailings  are  heard  from  the  walls,  wailings  of  the 
aged  Priam,  and  of  the  sorrowful  Hecuba,  whose  cry  is 
the  full  bitterness  of  maternal  grief. 

Within  the  city,  in  the  inner  chamber  of  her  palace,  a 
young  wife  is  engaged  in  weaving  a  double  purple  web 


50  WOMAN 

and  directing  the  work  of  her  handmaidens.  Her  thoughts 
are  all  of  her  warrior  husband,  and  she  has  had  a  servant 
set  a  great  tripod  upon  the  fire  that  Hector  might  have 
warm  washing  when  he  comes  home  out  of  the  battle — 
fond  heart  all  unaware  how,  far  from  all  washings,  bright- 
eyed  Athena  has  slain  him  by  the  hand  of  Achilles!  But 
suddenly  she  hears  shrieks  and  groans  from  the  battle- 
ments, and  her  limbs  tremble  and  the  shuttle  falls  from 
her  hands  to  earth.  She  dreads  terribly  lest  Hector  has 
met  his  fate  at  the  hand  of  Achilles.  Accompanied  by 
her  handmaidens,  she  rushes  to  the  battlements,  and  be- 
holds his  lifeless  body  dragged  by  swift  horses  toward  the 
hollow  ships.  Then  dark  night  comes  on  her  eyes  and 
shrouds  her,  and  she  falls  backward  and  gasps  forth  her 
spirit;  and  when  at  last  her  soul  returns  into  her  breast, 
she  bewails  her  own  sad  lot  and  that  of  her  child,  deprived 
of- such  a  husband  and  father. 

The  succeeding  days  are  spent  in  gloom  and  sorrow, 
each  side  bewailing  the  loss  of  a  favorite  warrior.  King 
Priam  finally  recovers  the  body  of  Hector  from  Achilles, 
and  brings  it  back  to  Hector's  palace,  where  the  women 
gather  about  the  corpse — and  among  them  white-armed 
Andromache  leads  the  lamentation,  while  in  her  hands  she 
holds  the  head  of  Hector,  slayer  of  men.  Hecuba,  too, 
grieves  for  Hector,  of  all  her  children  the  dearest  to  her 
heart;  and,  lastly,  Helen  joins  in  the  sore  lament,  sorrow- 
ing for  the  loss  of  the  dearest  of  her  brethren  in  Troy, 
who  had  never  spoken  despiteful  word  to  her,  but  had 
always  been  kind  and  considerate.  Here  the  long  story 
reaches  its  natural  conclusion.  The  Iliad  opens  with  a 
scene  of  wrath  occasioned  by  man's  passion  for  woman, 
and  closes  with  a  scene  of  mourning — women  grieving  for 
the  loss  of  a  slain  husband  and  son  and  friend — knightly 
Hector. 


WOMEN  OF  THE  ILIAD  $1 

Before  we  bid  farewell  to  the  martial  tableaux  presented 
to  us  in  the  Iliad,  and  direct  our  attention  to  the  domestic 
scenes  of  the  Odyssey,  let  us  take  a  final  glance  at  the 
heroines  who  have  appeared  in  the  first  Homeric  epos. 

Worthy  of  note  is  the  atmosphere  of  beauty  and  delicacy 
and  charm  with  which  the  poet  has  enveloped  Helen  of 
Troy.  She  has  committed  a  grievous  fault,  but  there  is  in 
the  recital  nothing  which  offends  the  moral  sense.  This  is 
because  the  poet  has  portrayed  her  with  none  of  the  seduc- 
tions of  vice,  but  with  all  the  allurements  of  penitence.  She 
has  sinned,  but  it  has  been  because  of  the  mysterious  and 
irresistible  bond  which  united  her  to  the  goddess  of  love;  her 
moral  nature  has  not  been  perverted,  and  she  is  filled  with 
shame  and  remorse  because  of  the  reproach  that  has  been 
cast  upon  her  name.  By  a  long  and  bitter  expiation,  she 
has  atoned  for  her  fault;  and  memories  of  the  days  long 
past  abide  with  her  in  all  their  sweetness  and  purity.  One 
can  but  contrast  the  difference  of  attitude  with  which  she 
addresses  Priam  and  Hector  on  the  one  hand,  and  Aphro- 
dite and  Paris  on  the  other.  For  the  former  she  has  the 
utmost  consideration  and  respect,  and  in  their  presence 
she  feels  most  keenly  how  compromised  is  her  position; 
for  the  latter,  the  causes  of  her  fall,  she  has  nothing  but 
the  scorn  and  contempt  of  a  cultivated  and  high-spirited 
queen.  In  portraying  the  regret  of  Helen  for  her  first 
husband,  and  her  contempt  toward  her  second;  in  repre- 
senting Menelaus  and  the  Greeks  as  fighting  to  avenge 
"the  longings  and  the  groans  of  Helen";  and  in  subtly 
suggesting  how  inevitable  are  the  chains  with  which 
Aphrodite  has  bound  her,  the  poet  wins  for  her  our  sym- 
pathy and  admiration.  Homer  nowhere  tells  us  of  the 
reconciliation  of  Menelaus  and  Helen,  after  the  fall  of 
Troy;  but  in  the  Odyssey  he  presents  a  beautiful  pic- 
ture of  Helen  in  Sparta,  a  queen  once  more,  beloved  of 


52  WOMAN 

husband  and  attendants,  and  presiding  over  her  palace  with 
courtly  grace  and  dignity;  and  in  the  prophecy  of  Proteus, 
the  Old  Man  of  the  Sea,  the  destiny  of  the  fair  queen  is 
suggested  in  that  of  her  faithful  spouse:  "  But  thou,  Mene- 
laus,  son  of  Zeus,  art  not  ordained  to  die  and  meet  thy 
fate  in  Argos,  the  pasture  land  of  horses;  for  the  death- 
less gods  will  convey  thee  to  the  Elysian  plains  and  to 
the  world's  end,  where  is  Rhadamanthus  of  the  fair  hair, 
where  life  is  easiest  for  men.  No  snow  is  there,  nor  yet 
great  storm,  nor  any  rain,  but  always  ocean  sendeth  forth 
the  breeze  of  the  shrill  blast  to  blow  cool  on  men;  yea,  for 
thou  hast  Helen  to  wife,  and  thereby  they  deem  thee  son 
to  Zeus." 

Thus,  because  wedded  to  Zeus-begotten  Helen,  Mene- 
laus  himself  is  deathless  and  immortal,  and  Homer  meant, 
no  doubt,  to  picture  the  royal  couple  passing  together  in 
the  Isles  of  the  Blest  the  aeons  of  eternity. 

Homer  provided  the  literary  types  for  all  succeeding 
Greek  poets,  and  it  is  but  natural  that  so  bewitching  a 
conception  as  Helen  should  be  frequently  portrayed  and 
adopted.  But  with  the  change  in  form  of  government 
from  monarchy  to  oligarchy,  and  from  oligarchy  to  de- 
mocracy, the  old  epic  conception  of  heroes  and  heroines 
frequently  suffers  disparagement.  In  later  periods,  men 
began  to  meditate  on  moral  questions,  and  poets  who 
sought  to  weigh  the  problems  of  human  life  and  destiny 
saw  in  Helen's  career  the  old,  old  story  of  sin  and  suf- 
ering,  and  they  could  not  with  Homeric  chivalry  gloze 
over  that  fatal  step  which  caused  the  wreck  of  empires 
and  brought  infinite  woes  to  men. 

Stesichorus  was  the  first  poet  to  charge  Helen  with  all 
the  guilt  and  suffering  of  Hellas  and  of  Troy;  but  for  this 
offence  against  the  daughter  of  Zeus,  says  tradition,  he 
was  smitten  with  blindness,  and  did  not  recover  his  sight 


WOMEN  OF  THE   ILIAD  53 

until  he  had  written  the  recantation  beginning:  "  Not  true 
is  that  tale;  nor  didst  thou  journey  in  benched  ships,  nor 
come  to  town  of  Troy," — in  which  he  adopted  the  theory 
that  the  real  Helen  remained  in  Egypt,  while  a  phantom 
accompanied  Paris  to  Troy. 

>Eschylus  searches  into  the  dire  consequences  of  Helen's 
sin,  and  on  her  shoulders  lays  all  the  sufferings  of  Aga- 
memnon and  his  descendants.  "Rightly  is  she  called 
Helen,"  says  he;  "a  hell  of  ships,  hell  of  men,  hell  of 
cities."  He  regards  her  as  the  very  incarnation  of  evil, 
the  curse  of  two  great  nations.  Yet  even  stern  yEschylus 
yields  due  reverence  to  her  all-conquering  beauty: 

"Ah!  silent,  see  she  stands; 
Each  glowing  tint,  each  radiant  grace, 
That  charm  th'  enraptur'd  eye,  we  trace ; 
And  still  the  blooming  form  commands, 

Still  honor'd,  still  ador'd, 
Though  careless  of  her  former  loves, 
Far  o'er  the  rolling  sea  the  wanton  roves." 

He  also  represents  her  forsaken  husband  ever  dreaming 
of  her,  enraptured  of  her  beauty: 

"  Oft  as  short  slumbers  close  his  eyes, 
His  sad  soul  sooth'd  to  rest, 
The  dream-created  visions  rise 
With  all  her  charms  imprest : 
But  vain  th'  ideal  scene  that  smiles 
With  rapt'rous  love  and  warm  delight; 
Vain  his  fond  hopes ;  his  eager  arms 
The  fleeting  form  beguiles, 
On  sleep's  quick  pinions  passing  light." 

^schylus  is  not  the  only  one  of  the  early  dramatists  to 
whom  Helen  furnished  a  worthy  theme;  the  titles  of  four 
lost  plays  show  that  Sophocles  wrote  of  the  Argive  queen. 
There  is  no  means  of  knowing,  however,  how  this  master 


54  '       WOMAN 

dealt  with  the  romance.  Judging  from  his  treatment  of 
the  Antigone  legend,  it  is  probable  that  Sophocles  treated 
Helen  as  a  woman  of  rare  beauty  and  power,  more  sinned 
against  than  sinning,  and  subjected  her  character  to  the 
most  profound  analysis. 

While  ^Eschylus  deprived  Helen  of  something  of  the 
delicacy  and  charm  with  which  Homer  had  invested  her, 
Euripides,  in  a  number  of  his  plays,  goes  even  further, 
and  brings  her  down  to  the  level  of  common  life.  Upon 
her  beautiful  head  were  heaped  the  reproaches  of  the 
unfortunate  maidens  and  matrons  of  Greece  and  Troy  for 
the  woes  they  had  to  suffer,  and  we  must  not  always 
take  the  sentiments  of  a  Hecuba  or  a  Clytemnestra  as  ex- 
pressing the  poet's  own  convictions.  In  the  Daughters  of 
Troy,  he  represents  her  in  violent  debate  with  her  mother- 
in-law,  Hecuba,  before  Menelaus,  leaving  with  the  reader 
the  impression  that  she  is  a  guilty,  wilful  woman  of  ignoble 
traits,  and  in  other  plays  he  lays  on  her  the  load  of  guilt 
for  all  the  dire  consequences  of  her  act;  yet  in  his  treat- 
ment of  Helen  there  is  always  an  ethereal  element,  hard  to 
define,  but  recognizable.  She  causes  ruin  and  destruction, 
she  is  roundly  abused  and  reproached,  yet  she  herself 
does  not  deal  in  invective  and  is  proof  against  all  physical 
ill,  being  finally  deified  as  the  daughter  of  Zeus,  while 
suffering  is  invariably  the  fate  of  those  who  abuse  and 
censure  her.  And,  like  Stesichorus,  Euripides  in  his  old 
age  makes  a  recantation.  In  the  Helen,  he  follows  the 
Stesichorean  version,  and  dramatizes  the  legend  that,  after 
she  was  promised  to  Paris  by  Aphrodite,  Hera  in  revenge 
fashioned  like  to  Queen  Helen  a  breathing  phantom  out 
of  cloud  land  wrought  for  Priam's  princely  son;  while 
Hermes  caught  her  away  and  transferred  her  to  the  halls 
of  Proteus,  King  of  Egypt,  to  keep  her  pure  for  Menelaus. 
Thus  it  was  for  a  phantom  Helen  that  Greek  and  Trojan 


WOMEN  OF  THE  ILIAD  55 

fought  at  Troy;  while  the  real  Helen  passed  her  days  amid 
the  palm  gardens  of  Egypt,  eagerly  awaiting  the  return 
of  Menelaus,  and  bewailing  her  ill  name,  though  she  was 
clean  of  sin.  After  the  war,  she  is  happily  reunited  with 
her  lord. 

It  is  hard,  however,  to  besmirch  a  conception  of  ideal 
beauty,  and  later  writers,  casting  aside  the  imputations  of 
the  dramatists,  returned  to  the  Homeric  type.  The  Greek 
rhetoricians  found  in  Helen  a  fruitful  subject  for  pane- 
gyric, and  made  her  synonymous  with  the  Greek  ideal  of 
beauty  and  feminine  perfection.  Isocrates  praises  her  as 
the  incarnation  of  ideal  loveliness  and  grace;  beauty  is 
all  powerful,  he  says,  and  the  Helen  legend  shows  how 
beauty  is  the  most  desirable  of  all  human  gifts.  Theoc- 
ritus, in  his  exquisite  Epithalamium,  pays  an  unalloyed 
tribute  to  her  beauty  and  goodness.  She  is  "peerless 
among  all  Achaean  women  that  walk  the  earth; — rose-red 
Helen,  the  glory  of  Lacedaemon; — no  one  is  so  gifted  as 
she  in  goodly  handiwork; — yea,  and  of  a  truth,  none  other 
smites  the  lyre,  hymning  Artemis  and  broad-breasted 
Athena,  with  such  skill  as  Helen,  within  whose  eyes  dwell 
all  the  Loves." 

Quintus  Smyrnaeus,  of  the  fourth  century  of  our  era, 
who  wrote  a  Post-Homerica,  emphasizes  the  demonic  influ- 
ence that  controlled  the  fate  of  Helen,  and  lays  her  frailty 
to  the  charge  of  Aphrodite.  He  gives  a  beautiful  picture 
of  the  queen  as  she  is  being  led  to  the  ships  of  the 
Achaeans:  "  Now,  Helen  lamented  not,  but  shame  dwelt 
in  her  dark  eyes  and  reddened  her  lovely  cheeks  .  .  . 
while  round  her  the  people  marvelled  as  they  beheld  the 
flawless  grace  and  winsome  beauty  of  the  woman,  and 
none  dared  upbraid  her  with  secret  taunt  or  open  rebuke. 
Nay,  as  she  had  been  a  goddess,  they  beheld  her  gladly, 
for  dear  and  desired  was  she  in  their  sight." 


56  WOMAN 

Thus  the  Helen  legend  became  the  allegory  of  Greek 
beauty,  and  so  exquisite  an  ideal,  uplifting  the  spirit  and 
satisfying  one's  longing  for  higher  things,  strikes  a  respon- 
sive chord  in  the  hearts  of  lovers  of  beauty  in  every  clime. 
The  romance  of  Helen,  after  lying  dormant  for  centuries, 
came  to  life  again  in  the  legend  of  Faust.  Marlowe  treated 
merely  the  external  phases  of  the  Faust  legend;  Goethe 
allegorized  the  whole,  and  in  the  loves  of  Faust  and  Helen 
symbolized  the  passion  of  the  Renaissance  for  the  Greek 
ideal  of  beauty;  the  fruit  of  the  union  of  the  two  is  Eupho- 
rion,  the  genius  of  romantic  art.  Nor  has  Helen  exerted 
less  influence  on  modern  English  poets.  Landor,  in  numer- 
ous poems,  portrays  the  sweetness  of  her  character  and 
the  omnipotence  of  her  beauty  and  charm;  Swinburne 
dwells  on  the  innocence  and  joyfulness  of  her  childhood; 
Tennyson  speaks  of  her  as 

"A  daughter  of  the  gods,  divinely  tall, 
And  most  divinely  fair ; " 

and  Andrew  Lang  has  written  a  lengthy  poem  on  the  Helen 
legend,  in  which  he  ascribes  her  frailty  to  the  irresistible 
power  of  Aphrodite.  Thus  Homer  and  the  Homeric  Age  are 
inextricably  entwined  about  the  name  of  Helen .  It  is  signifi- 
cant in  the  study  of  Greek  women  that  at  the  very  dawn  of 
Greek  civilization  we  should  find  such  an  ideal  conception 
of  womanhood — one  that  universally  captivates  the  fancy 
and  has  exerted  an  influence  through  all  succeeding  ages. 
Let  us  now  pause  a  moment  to  contemplate  the  most 
lovable  of  all  the  women  of  Homer,  Hector's  spouse,  white- 
armed  Andromache.  Homer  does  not  devote  much  space 
to  her — only  the  famous  parting  scene  and  the  two  lamen- 
tations which  she  utters  over  her  fallen  husband.  Yet,  as 
the  ideal  type  of  the  soldier's  wife,  the  loving  mother,  she 
has  taken  a  hold  on  the  modern  imagination  and  is  the 


WOMEN  OF  THE  ILIAD  57 

best  known  of  all  the  female  characters  of  Greek  epos. 
We  know  that  she  must  have  been  beautiful,  though 
Homer  uses  only  one  epithet  to  describe  her;  we  know 
that  she  must  have  been  brave  and  devoted  and  domestic, 
for  Homer  has  painted  for  us  an  ideal  picture  which  por- 
trays her  with  all  these  and  many  other  lovable  attributes. 
Andromache  is  neither  Trojan  nor  Greek;  she  is  univer- 
sal; and  wherever  there  are  scenes  of  husband  parted  from 
wife,  of  uncertainty  as  to  the  issue  of  the  combat  and  the 
destiny  of  the  children,  Andromache  will  be  the  great  pro- 
totype. Andromache  feels  in  her  heart  that  sacred  Ilium 
is  doomed,  and,  in  those  cruel  times  when  might  was  right, 
she  knew  but  too  well  what  was  to  be  the  fate  of  herself 
and  the  lad  Astyanax.  Euripides  tells  us  how  the  fore- 
bodings of  Andromache  came  true,  and  dwells  on  those  sad 
days  for  the  daughters  of  Troy  when  the  mailed  hand  of 
the  Achasans  carried  them  off  captive  after  the  fall  of  the 
city  and  determined  their  destiny  by  lot. 

Andromache  was  apportioned  to  Neoptolemus,  Achilles's 
valiant  son,  and  in  Euripides's  Daughters  of  Troy  she  reap- 
pears, with  her  child  in  her  arms,  haled  forth  to  her  new 
bondage.  Sadly  she  bewails  her  lost  Hector,  who  could 
have  warded  off  from  her  the  curse  of  thraldom.  The 
Greek  herald,  Talthybius,  demands  from  her  the  lad 
Astyanax,  whom  the  Greeks  have  decided  to  hurl  from 
the  battlements  of  Troy.  The  child  is  ruthlessly  torn 
from  his  mother's  embrace,  and  she  is  led  off  to  the 
hollow  ships.  Neoptolemus  takes  her  over  sea  to  his 
home  in  Thessaly,  and  loves  her  and  treats  her  with  a 
kindness  and  consideration  that  are  sweetly  perfect.  To 
him  she  bears  a  son  in  her  captivity;  but  not  of  her  own 
will  does  she  share  his  couch,  for  her  heart  is  true  to  the 
memory  of  Hector.  After  many  years,  Neoptolemus  weds 
Hermione,  daughter  of  Menelaus  and  Helen,  a  princess 


58  WOMAN 

of  Sparta.  To  them  no  child  is  born,  and  Hermione's 
heart  is  filled  with  anger  and  jealousy  toward  the  thrall, 
whom  her  husband  still  treats  tenderly.  With  her  father, 
Menelaus,  Hermione,  during  Neoptolemus's  absence,  plots 
the  destruction  of  Andromache  and  her  boy,  but  the  aged 
Peleus  protects  the  defenceless  ones.  Neoptolemus  is 
slain  at  Delphi,  and  Thetis,  who  appears  at  the  close  of 
the  Andromache,  thus  solves  the  problem  of  fate: 

"And  that  war-captive  dame,  Andromache, 
In  the  Molossian  land  must  find  a  home 
In  lawful  wedlock  joined  to  Helenus, 
With  that  child  who  alone  is  left  alive 
Of  /Eacus'  line.    And  kings  Molossian 
From  him  one  after  other  long  shall  reign 
In  bliss." 

Readers  of  Virgil  will  recall  how  >£neas  found  Androm- 
ache in  the  Molossian  land,  and  how  her  heart  yearned 
for  the  lad  Ascanius,  who  reminded  her  of  the  lost  Asty- 
anax.  Euripides  has  been  true,  in  the  main,  to  the 
Homeric  conception  of  Andromache,  and  endows  her  in 
her  captivity  with  the  same  womanliness  and  domestic 
traits  that  won  our  hearts  in  the  Iliad;  nevertheless,  there 
is  about  her  the  infinite  sadness  that  is  natural  to  one  who 
has  lost  all  that  life  holds  dear.  Yet  Euripides  falls  so  in- 
finitely below  the  master  that  the  picture  which  will  abide 
longest  in  the  memory  is  the  parting  scene  in  the  Iliad. 

Homer  endows  his  minor  characters  with  an  interest  that 
is  no  less  real  to  us  than  that  given  to  Helen  and  Androm- 
ache. Of  these  lesser  characters,  a  few  stand  out  insistent 
of  our  notice.  At  the  threshold  of  the  story,  Chryseis  and 
Briseis  appear  as  the  innocent  causes  of  the  quarrel  of  the 
chieftains.  Chryseis  is  still  a  maiden,  as  far  as  can  be 
inferred,  and  had  not  lost  kindred  and  friends  when  taken 
captive;  for  her  father,  the  priest  of  sacred  Chryse,  comes 


WOMEN  OF  THE   ILIAD  59 

to  beg  her  release,  with  boundless  ransoms.  Hence  her  day 
of  captivity  is  brief,  and  the  aged  father  joyously  welcomes 
his  beloved  daughter.  She  must  have  been  beautiful  and 
clever,  for  Agamemnon  prized  her  far  above  Clytemnestra. 

The  story  of  Briseis  is  a  much  sadder  one,  and  graphically 
illustrates  the  fate  of  a  gentlewoman  who  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  foe.  She  was  a  captive  widow,  husband  and  kindred 
having  been  slain  by  Achilles.  But  her  captor  loved  her 
devotedly,  and  to  him  she  was  a  wife  in  all  but  in  name;  and 
Patroclus  had  promised  her  that  she  should  in  time  become 
the  wedded  wife  of  Achilles.  The  young  warrior  weeps 
bitterly  when  she  is  taken  from  him,  but  at  the  close  of  the 
Iliad  we  see  them  happily  reunited.  She  is  remembered 
because  of  the  great  passions  that  gathered  about  her. 

Homer  presents  two  pictures  of  heroic  motherhood  in 
sorrow, — Hecuba  and  Thetis;  for  the  latter,  though  a  god- 
dess, is  perfectly  human  in  her  devotion  to  her  fated  son, 
Achilles.  To  her  he  goes  for  comfort,  and  she  is  ever 
resourceful  in  responding  to  his  wants.  She  weeps  over 
his  destiny,  but,  since  he  has  chosen  the  better  part,  she 
nobly  supports  him  in  every  struggle.  Hecuba  is  truly 
the  companion  of  her  husband,  King  Priam,  associated 
with  him  in  his  projects,  and  sharing  his  counsels.  She 
has  borne  him  nineteen  children,  and  these  she  has  seen 
slain,  one  after  another,  by  the  hand  of  the  foe.  Hector 
is  her  favorite  son,  in  whose  courage  she  recognizes  the 
bulwark  of  Ilium.  When  she  sees  him  exposed  to  certain 
death,  her  anxiety  overcomes  her  pride  and  she  beseeches 
him  to  come  within  the  walls;  and  when  at  last  her  son 
has  succumbed,  we  find  in  her  the  same  mingling  of  grief 
and  of  pride.  Her  wild  despair  seems  to  be  assuaged  by 
the  thought  that  her  son  died  gloriously.  This  heroic 
sentiment  sustains  her  before  the  corpse  of  Hector,  and 
even  in  her  lamentation  she  voices  her  calm  courage. 


of  tfje 


IV 

WOMEN   OF   THE   ODYSSEY 

TEN  years  have  passed  since  the  fall  of  Ilium,  and  the 
various  heroes  of  the  Greeks  have  met  with  diverse  for- 
tunes. Agamemnon,  king  of  men,  has  returned  to  his 
fatherland,  but  merely  to  find  treason  and  death  at  the 
hands  of  >£gisthus,  the  new  lord  of  Clytemnestra,  his  wife. 
Menelaus,  after  long  wanderings,  especially  in  Egypt,  has 
reestablished  his  kingdom  in  Sparta,  with  Helen  as  his 
queen.  Odysseus,  King  of  Ithaca,  had  the  longest  and 
most  perilous  voyage  homeward,  and,  after  meeting  with 
various  misadventures,  has  been  detained  for  nearly  eight 
long  years,  consuming  his  own  heart,  in  the  island  para- 
dise of  Calypso.  Meanwhile,  on  his  own  island,  Ithaca, 
things  have  begun  to  go  amiss.  The  island  chiefs,  men 
of  the  younger  generation,  begin  to  woo  Penelope  and  to 
harass  her  son,  Telemachus.  The  wooers,  after  being  re- 
buffed for  years  by  the  fair  queen,  are  becoming  insolent, 
quartering  themselves  upon  her,  and  devouring  her  sub- 
stance. At  this  time  the  action  of  the  Odyssey  begins. 

The  determined  time  has  now  arrived  when,  by  the  coun- 
sels of  the  gods,  Odysseus  is  to  be  brought  home  to  free 
his  house,  to  avenge  himself  on  the  wooers,  and  to  recover 

63 


64  WOMAN 

his  kingdom.  Pallas  Athena  is  the  chief  agent  in  the 
restoration  of  Odysseus  to  his  fatherland.  She  beseeches 
Zeus  that  he  may  be  delivered,  and  in  accordance  with 
this  prayer  Hermes  is  sent  to  Calypso  to  bid  her.  release 
Odysseus.  Meanwhile,  the  goddess,  in  human  form,  visits 
Telemachus  in  Ithaca,  and  urges  the  young  prince  to  with- 
stand the  suitors  who  are  devastating  his  house,  and  to 
go  in  search  of  his  father.  Touched  by  the  words  of  the 
goddess,  youth  rapidly  gives  way  to  manhood,  and  Telema- 
chus determines  to  assert  his  rights  and  to  find  his  father. 
After  the  departure  of  the  goddess,  the  prince  enters  the 
court  where  the  suitors  are  gathered,  listening  to  the  sing- 
ing of  the  renowned  minstrel  Phemius;  and  his  song  was  of 
the  pitiful  return  of  the  Achaeans.  We  now  have  our  first 
vision  of  discreet  Penelope.  From  her  upper  chamber  she 
hears  the  glorious  strain,  and  she  descends  the  high  stairs 
from  her  apartments,  accompanied  by  two  of  her  hand- 
maids. "  Now,  when  the  fair  lady  had  come  unto  the 
wooers,  she  stood  by  the  doorpost  of  the  well-builded  roof, 
holding  up  her  glistering  tire  before  her  face;  and  a  faithful 
maiden  stood  on  either  side  of  her."  She  begs  Phemius 
to  cease  from  this  sorrowful  strain,  which  wastes  her  heart 
within  her  breast,  since  to  her,  above  all  women,  hath 
come  a  sorrow  comfortless,  because  she  holds  in  constant 
memory  so  dear  a  head,— even  that  man  whose  fame  is 
noised  abroad  from  Hellas  to  mid-Argos.  Telemachus  gently 
rebukes  his  mother  for  interrupting  the  song  of  the  minstrel, 
and  bids  her  return  to  her  chamber  and  to  her  own  house- 
wiferies, the  loom  and  distaff,  and  bid  the  handmaids  ply 
their  tasks.  Then  in  amaze  she  goes  back  to  her  chamber, 
for  she  lays  up  the  wise  saying  of  her  son  in  her  heart. 
She  ascends  to  the  upper  chamber  with  the  women,  her 
handmaids,  and  there  bewails  Odysseus,  her  dear  lord,  till 
gray-eyed  Athena  casts  sweet  sleep  upon  her  eyelids. 


WOMEN  OF  THE  ODYSSEY  65 

Telemachus  begins  to  assert  himself  before  the  violent 
suitors.  When  night  falls  and  each  goes  to  his  own  house 
to  lie  down  to  rest,  the  young  prince  is  attended  to  his 
chamber  by  the  aged  Euryclea,  who  had  nursed  him  when 
a  little  one.  She  bears  the  burning  torches,  and  prepares 
the  chamber  for  her  young  master;  and  when  he  takes  off 
his  soft  doublet,  she  folds  and  smooths  it  and  hangs  it  on 
a  pin  by  the  jointed  bedstead.  Then  she  goes  forth  from 
the  room,  and  there,  all  night  long,  wrapped  in  a  fleece  of 
wool,  Telemachus  meditates  in  his  heart  upon  the  journey 
that  Athena  has  shown  him. 

The  next  day,  after  a  stormy  meeting  of  the  assembly, 
Telemachus  secretly  sets  sail  for  Pylus,  accompanied  by 
the  goddess  Athena,  in  the  form  of  Mentor.  Only  Eury- 
clea, the  youth's  faithful  nurse,  knows  of  his  journey,  and 
she  has  taken  a  great  oath  not  to  reveal  it  to  his  mother 
till  the  eleventh  or  twelfth  day.  Nestor  graciously  re- 
ceives Telemachus  at  Pylus,  and,  as  he  himself  has  no 
news  of  Odysseus,  sends  him  on  to  Sparta,  to  King  Mene- 
laus,  in  the  company  of  his  own  son,  Pisistratus.  The 
young  men  are  graciously  received  by  Menelaus  and 
Helen,  and  Telemachus  learns  that  Odysseus  was  a  cap- 
tive on  an  island  of  the  deep  in  the  halls  of  the  nymph 
Calypso. 

Meanwhile,  the  suitors  in  Ithaca  learn  of  Telemachus's 
departure  and  lay  an  ambush  to  intercept  him  on  his  return. 
Discreet  Penelope,  too,  learns  by  chance  of  his  absence, 
and  of  the  plots  of  the  wooers,  and  her  heart  melts  within 
her  at  the  thought  of  danger  to  her  child.  The  good  nurse 
Euryclea  tells  her  of  Telemachus's  plan,  and  lulls  her 
queen's  grief.  Penelope  returns  to  her  chamber  and  prays 
to  Athena  to  save  her  dear  son  and  ward  off  from  him  the 
malice  of  the  suitors.  As  she  lies  there  in  her  upper 
chamber,  fasting,  and  tasting  neither  meat  nor  drink,  and 


66  WOMAN 

musing  over  the  fate  of  her  dear  son,  gray-eyed  Athena 
makes  a  phantom  in  the  likeness  of  Penelope's  sister, 
Iphthime,  and  sends  her  to  comfort  Penelope  amid  her 
sorrow  and  lamenting.  Reassured  by  the  phantom  con- 
cerning her  son,  the  devoted  matron  begs  for  news  of 
her  husband,  pleading  to  know  whether  he  be  alive  or 
dead,  but  this  information  is  denied  her.  Yet  the  heart 
of  the  disconsolate  wife  and  mother  is  cheered,  so  sweet 
was  the  vision  that  came  to  her  in  the  dead  of  night. 

Homer  now  transports  us  to  an  assembly  of  the  gods. 
Athena  tells  the  tale  of  the  many  woes  of  Odysseus,  and 
Zeus  commands  Hermes,  the  messenger  god,  to  bid  Ca- 
lypso release  Odysseus  and  start  him  on  his  voyage  to 
the  Phaeacians,  who  are  destined  to  return  the  wanderer 
to  his  own  dear  country.  Hermes  quickly  reaches  the 
far-off  isle  of  Ogygia,  where  was  the  grotto  of  the  nymph 
of  the  braided  tresses.  The  fair  goddess  at  once  knows 
him,  and,  after  giving  him  entertainment,  inquires  his  mes- 
sage. Calypso  regretfully  and  well-nigh  rebelliously  re- 
ceives the  command  of  Zeus,  and  complains  of  the  jealousy 
of  the  gods,  who  forbid  goddesses  openly  to  mate  with 
men.  Yet,  as  none  can  make  void  the  purpose  of  Zeus, 
she  will  obey  the  command.  Hermes  departs,  and  the 
nymph  goes  on  her  way  to  the  great-hearted  Odysseus. 
She  finds  him  sitting  on  the  shore;  his  eyes  were  never 
dry  of  tears,  his  sweet  life  was  ebbing  away  as  he 
mourned  for  his  return,  and  through  his  tears  he  looked 
wistfully  over  the  unharvested  deep.  Calypso  bids  him 
sorrow  no  more,  for  she  will  send  him  away,  and  directs 
him  how  to  prepare  a  barge  on  which  to  make  the  voyage. 
Four  days  are  devoted  to  the  making  of  the  barge,  and  on 
the  fifth  the  goddess  sends  him  on  his  way,  providing  him 
with  food  and  drink  for  his  journey,  and  causing  a  gentle 
wind  to  blow. 


WOMEN  OF  THE  ODYSSEY  67 

Goodly  Odysseus  joyously  sets  his  sail  to  the  breeze, 
and  keeps  his  eye  on  the  star  Orion,  which  the  fair  god- 
dess had  bidden  him  to  keep  ever  on  his  left  as  he  traverses 
the  deep. 

Seventeen  days  he  sails  placidly  along,  and  on  the  eight- 
eenth appear  the  shadowy  hills  of  the  land  of  the  Phasa- 
cians,  whither  he  is  bound.  Then  spies  him  his  old  enemy, 
Poseidon,  and  the  earth  shaker  gathers  the  clouds  and 
rouses  the  storms,  and  down  speeds  night  from  heaven. 
The  great  waves  smite  down  upon  Odysseus,  and  he  loses 
the  helm  from  his  hand  and  the  mast  is  broken.  He  is 
thrown  from  his  raft;  but,  again  clutching  it,  clambers  upon 
it,  avoiding  grim  death.  Woman  is  again  destined  to  be  the 
means  of  salvation  for  the  hero.  Ino  of  the  fair  ankles, 
daughter  of  Cadmus,  in  time  past  a  mortal  maiden,  but 
now  a  sea  nymph,  Leucothea,  marks  his  dire  straits  and 
takes  pity  upon  him,  and  gives  him  her  veil  to  wind  about 
him  when  he  throws  himself  into  the  deep.  When  his 
raft  is  at  last  broken  asunder,  he  wraps  the  veil  about 
him;  and  for  two  days  and  nights  it  bears  him  up  until  at 
length  he  makes  the  rugged  shore.  Throwing  the  veil  into 
the  stream  to  be  wafted  back  to  fair-ankled  Ino,  Odys- 
seus, bruised  and  battered,  clambers  among  the  reeds  on 
the  bank.  He  finds  a  resting  place  underneath  two  olive 
trees,  and  Athena  sheds  sweet  sleep  upon  his  eyelids. 

That  same  night,  the  daughter  of  the  king  of  the  Ph^a- 
cians,  Nausicaa,  beautiful  like  the  goddesses,  was  sleeping 
in  a  sumptuous  chamber.  For  it  was  to  the  island  domain 
of  King  Alcinous,  Scheria,  land  of  the  Ph^acians,  that 
Odysseus  had  come.  To  the  palace  of  the  king  went 
Athena,  devising  a  return  for  the  great-hearted  Odysseus. 

"  She  betook  her  to  the  rich-wrought  bower,  wherein 
was  sleeping  a  maiden  like  to  the  gods  in  form  and  come- 
liness, Nausicaa,  the  daughter  of  Alcinous,  high  of  heart. 


68  WOMAN 

Beside  her,  on  each  hand  of  the  pillars  of  the  door,  were 
two  handmaids,  dowered  with  beauty  from  the  Graces, 
and  the  shining  doors  were  shut. 

"  But  the  goddess,  fleet  as  the  breath  of  the  wind, 
swept  toward  the  couch  of  the  maiden,  and  stood  above 
her  head." 

In  the  semblance  of  Nausicaa's  favorite  girl  friend  and 
comrade,  the  goddess  addresses  her: 

"  '  Nausicaa,  how  hath  thy  mother  so  heedless  a  maiden 
to  her  daughter?  Lo!  thou  hast  shining  raiment  that  lies 
by  thee  uncared  for,  and  thy  marriage  day  is  near  at 
hand,  when  thou  thyself  must  needs  go  beautifully  clad, 
and  have  garments  to  give  to  them  who  shall  lead  thee  to 
the  house  of  the  bridegroom.  And,  behold,  these  are  the 
things  whence  a  good  report  goes  abroad  among  men, 
wherein  a  father  and  lady  mother  take  delight.  But 
come,  let  us  arise  and  go  a-washing  with  the  breaking  of 
the  day,  and  I  will  follow  thee  to  be  thy  mate  in  the  toil, 
that  without  delay  thou  mayst  get  thee  ready,  since  truly 
thou  art  not  long  to  be  a  maiden.  Lo!  already  they  are 
wooing  thee,  the  noblest  youths  of  all  the  Phaeacians, 
among  that  people  whence  thou  thyself  dost  draw  thy 
lineage.  So  come,  beseech  thy  noble  father  betimes  in 
the  morning  to  furnish  thee  with  mules  and  a  wain  to 
carry  the  men's  raiment,  and  the  robes,  and  the  shining 
coverlets.  Yea,  and  for  thyself  it  is  seemlier  far  to  go 
thus  than  on  foot,  for  the  places  where  we  must  wash  are 
a  great  way  from  the  town.'  " 

So  spake  the  gray-eyed  Athena,  and  departed  to  Olym- 
pus, seat  of  the  gods. 

"  Anon  came  the  throned  Dawn,  and  awakened  Nau- 
sicaa of  the  fair  robes,  who  straightway  marvelled  on  the 
dream,  and  went  through  the  halls  to  tell  her  parents, 
her  father  dear  and  her  mother.  And  she  found  them 


WOMEN  OF  THE  ODYSSEY  69 

within,  her  mother  sitting  by  the  hearth  with  the  women, 
her  handmaids,  spinning  yarn  of  sea-purple  stain,  but  her 
father  she  met  as  he  was  going  forth  to  the  renowned 
kings  in  their  council,  whither  the  noble  Phaeacians  called 
him.  Standing  close  by  her  dear  father,  she  spake,  saying: 
'  Father,  dear,  couldst  thou  not  lend  me  a  high  wagon  with 
strong  wheels,  that  I  may  take  the  goodly  raiment  to  the 
river  to  wash,  so  much  as  I  have  lying  soiled?  Yea,  and 
it  is  seemly  that  thou  thyself,  when  thou  art  with  the 
princes  in  council,  shouldst  have  fresh  raiment  to  wear. 
Also,  there  are  five  dear  sons  of  thine  in  the  halls,  two 
married,  but  three  are  lusty  bachelors,  and  these  are 
always  eager  for  new-washen  garments  wherein  to  go  to 
the  dances;  for  all  these  things  have  I  taken  thought.' 

"  This  she  said,  because  she  was  ashamed  to  speak  of 
glad  marriage  to  her  father;  but  he  saw  all  and  answered, 
saying: 

"  '  Neither  the  mules  nor  aught  else  do  I  grudge  thee, 
my  child.  Go  thy  ways,  and  the  thralls  shall  get  thee 
ready  a  high  wagon  with  good  wheels,  and  fitted  with  an 
upper  frame.'  " 

So,  in  obedience  to  the  king's  command,  the  mule  team 
is  made  ready  in  the  courtyard,  and  the  maiden  and  her 
mother  store  in  the  wagon  the  raiment,  a  basket  filled 
with  all  manner  of  food,  and  wine  in  a  goatskin  bottle, 
and  olive  oil  in  a  golden  cruse,  that  the  princess  and  her 
maidens  might  anoint  themselves  after  the  bath.  Then 
Nausicaa  herself  takes  the  whip  and  the  reins,  and  she 
and  her  attendants  start  off  for  a  joyous  holiday.  When 
they  reach  the  stream  of  the  river,  the  maidens  unharness 
the  mules  and  turn  them  loose  to  graze  on  the  honey- 
sweet  clover.  Then  they  take  out  the  garments,  wash 
and  cleanse  them  from  all  stains,  and  spread  them  out 
along  the  shore  to  dry.  Work  over,  they  bathe,  anoint 


70  WOMAN 

themselves  with  olive  oil,  and  partake  of  their  noonday 
meal  on  the  river  banks.  Now  for  an  afternoon  of  maid- 
enly pastime.  They  indulge  in  the  choral  game  of  ball, 
laying  aside  their  headdresses,  and  among  them  Nausicaa 
of  the  white  arms,  who  outshone  in  beauty  her  maiden 
company,  began  the  song. 

But  Athena  is  overruling  this  girlish  frolic,  for  the  rescue 
of  her  hero.  The  princess  throws  the  ball  at  one  of  her 
companions,  but  it  misses  her  and  falls  into  the  eddying 
river,  whereat  the  maidens  all  raise  a  piercing  scream,  as 
only  maidens  can.  Odysseus  is  awakened,  and,  sitting 
up,  wonders  into  what  sort  of  land  he  is  come;  surely 
it  was  the  shrill  cry  of  maidens,  but  whether  of  nymphs 
or  of  mortals  he  cannot  tell.  He  will  make  essay,  how- 
ever; and,  tearing  a  leafy  bough  from  a  tree  to  cover  him, 
he  sallies  forth  from  the  thicket  like  a  mountain-bred  lion. 
Loathsome  and  terrible,  being  disfigured  by  the  brine  of 
the  sea,  does  he  appear  to  the  maidens,  and  they  flee 
cowering  here  and  there  about  the  shore.  Only  Alcin- 
ous's  daughter  stands  firm,  for  Athena  gives  her  courage 
of  heart  and  takes  all  trembling  from  her  limbs.  Odysseus 
does  not  venture  to  approach  in  the  attitude  of  a  suppliant, 
but,  standing  aloof,  beseeches  her  compassion  with  sweet 
and  cunning  words  : 

"  I  supplicate  thee,  O  queen,  whether  thou  art  a  god- 
dess or  a  mortal!  If  indeed  thou  art  a  goddess  of  them 
that  keep  the  wide  heaven,  then  to  Artemis,  the  daughter 
of  great  Zeus,  I  mainly  liken  thee,  for  beauty  and  stature 
and  shapeliness.  But  if  thou  art  one  of  the  daughters  of 
men  who  dwell  on  earth,  thrice  blessed  are  thy  father  and 
thy  lady  mother,  and  thrice  blessed  thy  brethren.  Surely 
their  souls  ever  glow  with  gladness  for  thy  sake  each 
time  they  see  thee  entering  the  dance,  so  fair  a  flower  of 
maidens!  But  he  is  of  heart  the  most  blessed  beyond  all 


WOMEN  OF  THE  ODYSSEY  71 

other  who  shall  prevail  with  gifts  of  wooing,  and  lead 
thee  to  his  home.  Never  have  mine  eyes  beheld  such  an 
one  among  mortals,  neither  man  nor  woman;  great  awe 
comes  upon  me  as  I  look  on  thee. 

"  But,  queen,  have  pity  on  me;  for,  after  many  trials 
and  sore,  to  thee  first  of  all  am  I  come,  and  of  the  other 
folk  who  hold  this  city  and  land  I  know  no  man.  Nay, 
show  me  the  town,  give  me  an  old  garment  to  cast  about 
me,  if  thou  hadst,  when  thou  earnest  here,  any  wrap  for 
the  linen.  And  may  the  gods  grant  thee  all  thy  heart's 
desire:  a  husband  and  a  home,  and  a  mind  at  one  with 
his  may  they  give — a  good  gift;  for  there  is  nothing 
mightier  and  nobler  than  when  man  and  wife  are  of  one 
heart  and  mind  in  a  house,  a  grief  to  their  foes,  and  to 
their  friends  great  joy,  but  their  own  hearts  know  it  best." 

Then  Nausicaa  of  the  white  arms  answered  him,  and 
said:  "Stranger,  forasmuch  as  thou  seemest  no  evil  man 
nor  foolish — and  it  is  Olympian  Zeus  himself  that  giveth 
weal  to  men,  to  the  good  and  to  the  evil,  to  each  one  as 
he  will,  and  this  thy  lot  doubtless  is  of  him,  and  so  thou 
must  in  any  wise  endure  it: — now,  since  thou  hast  come 
to  our  city  and  our  land,  thou  shalt  not  lack  raiment,  nor 
aught  else  that  is  the  due  of  a  hapless  suppliant,  when  he 
has  met  them  who  can  befriend  him.  And  I  will  show 
thee  the  town,  and  name  the  name  of  the  people.  The 
Phasacians  hold  this  city  and  land,  and  I  am  the  daughter 
of  Alcinous,  great  of  heart,  on  whom  all  the  might  and 
force  of  the  Phasacians  depend." 

The  princess  then  calls  her  maidens  and  bids  them  give 
the  stranger  meat  and  drink,  and  olive  oil  for  his  bath, 
and  raiment  to  put  on.  And  when  he  had  bathed  and 
anointed  himself,  and  had  put  on  the  raiment,  Athena 
"  made  him  greater  and  more  mighty  to  behold,  and 
from  his  head  caused  deep,  curling  locks  to  flow,  like  the 


72  WOMAN 

hyacinth  flower,"  shedding  grace  about  his  head  and 
shoulders. 

"  Then  to  the  shore  of  the  sea  went  Odysseus  apart, 
and  sat  down,  glowing  in  beauty  and  grace;  and  the  prin- 
cess marvelled  at  him,  and  spake  among  her  fair-tressed 
maidens,  saying: 

"'Listen,  my  white-armed  maidens,  and  I  will  say 
somewhat.  Not  without  the  will  of  all  the  gods  who  hold 
Olympus  hath  this  man  come  among  the  godlike  Phaea- 
cians.  Erewhile  he  seemed  to  me  uncomely,  but  now  he 
is  like  the  gods  that  keep  the  wide  heaven.  Would  that 
such  an  one  might  be  called  my  husband,  dwelling  here, 
and  that  it  might  please  him  here  to  abide !  But  come, 
my  maidens,  give  the  stranger  meat  and  drink.'  " 

Food  is  set  before  the  famishing  Odysseus,  and,  after 
his  hunger  is  appeased,  Nausicaa  prepares  for  the  home- 
ward return.  She  addresses  the  hero,  and  gives  him  full 
directions  how  to  reach  her  father's  palace;  part  of  the 
way  he  may  accompany  her,  but  not  when  they  approach 
a  populous  part  of  the  city;  for  she  dreads  the  unfriendly 
comments  of  loungers  and  passers-by. 

"And  some  one  of  the  baser  sort  might  meet  me  and 
say:  'Who  is  this  that  goes  with  Nausicaa,  this  tall 
and  goodly  stranger?  Where  found  she  him?  Her  hus- 
band he  will  be,  her  very  own.  Either  she  has  taken  in 
some  shipwrecked  wanderer  of  strange  men,  for  no  men 
dwell  near  us;  or  some  god  has  come  in  answer  to  her 
instant  prayer;  from  heaven  has  he  descended,  and  will 
have  her  to  wife  for  evermore.  Better  so,  if  herself  she 
has  ranged  abroad  and  found  a  lord  from  a  strange  land; 
for  verily  she  holds  in  no  regard  the  Phaeacians  here  in 
this  country,  the  many  men  and  noble  who  are  her  wooers.' 
So  will  they  speak,  and  this  would  turn  to  my  reproach. 
Yea,  and  I  myself  would  think  it  blame  of  another  maiden 


WOMEN  OF  THE  ODYSSEY  73 

who  did  such  things  in  despite  of  her  friends,  her  father 
and  mother  being  still  alive,  and  was  conversant  with 
men  before  the  day  of  open  wedlock.  But,  stranger,  heed 
well  what  I  say,  that  as  soon  as  may  be  thou  mayst  gain 
at  my  father's  hands  an  escort  and  a  safe  return.  Thou 
shalt  find  a  fair  grove  of  Athena,  a  poplar  grove  near  the 
road,  and  a  spring  wells  forth  therein,  and  a  meadow  lies 
all  around.  There  is  my  father's  demesne,  and  his  fruit- 
ful close,  within  the  sound  of  a  man's  shout  from  the  city. 
Sit  thee  down  there,  and  wait  until  such  time  as  we  may 
have  come  into  the  city  and  reached  the  house  of  my 
father.  But  when  thou  deemest  that  we  are  got  to  the 
palace,  then  go  up  to  the  city  of  the  Phasacians,  and  ask 
for  the  house  of  my  father  Alcinous,  high  of  heart.  It  is 
easily  known,  and  a  young  child  could  be  thy  guide,  for 
nowise  like  it  are  builded  the  houses  of  the  Phaeacians, 
so  goodly  is  the  palace  of  the  hero  Alcinous.  But  when 
thou  art  within  the  shadow  of  the  halls  and  the  court,  pass 
quickly  through  the  great  chamber,  till  thou  comest  to  my 
mother,  who  sits  at  the  hearth  in  the  light  of  the  fire, 
weaving  yarn  of  sea-purple  stain,  a  wonder  to  behold. 
Her  chair  is  leaned  against  a  pillar,  and  her  maidens  sit 
behind  her.  And  there  my  father's  throne  leans  close  to 
hers,  wherein  he  sits  and  drinks  his  wine,  like  an  im- 
mortal. Pass  thou  by  him,  and  cast  thy  hands  about  my 
mother's  knees,  that  thou  mayst  see  quickly  and  with  joy 
the  day  of  thy  returning,  even  if  thou  art  from  a  very 
far  country.  If  but  her  heart  be  kindly  disposed  toward 
thee,  then  is  there  hope  that  thou  shalt  see  thy  friends, 
and  come  to  thy  well-builded  house  and  to  thine  own 
country."  The  clever  maiden  had  already  learned  where 
lies  the  real  seat  of  authority. 

Soon  stranger  and  maiden  part,  and  Nausicaa  drives  to 
the  gateway  of  the  palace,  and  her  brothers  loose  the 


74  WOMAN 

mules  from  the  car  and  carry  the  raiment  within;  then 
the  maiden  passes  to  her  chamber,  where  her  attendant 
Eurymedusa  meets  her  and  prepares  her  supper.  And 
at  this  point  Nausicaa  slips  out  of  the  main  thread  of 
the  story,  for  maidens  were  not  allowed  to  take  part 
in  the  public  functions  with  which  the  king  entertained 
his  guest. 

When  Odysseus  has  met  with  a  favorable  reception 
from  the  royal  pair,  the  queen  recognizes  the  garments 
which  he  wears,  and  this  leads  to  the  story  of  his  rescue, 
but  as  yet  he  withholds  his  name.  Alcinous  is  inclined  to 
censure  his  daughter  for  not  bringing  the  rescued  one 
to  the  house  when  she  returned  with  her  maidens,  but 
Odysseus  gallantly  defends  the  blameless  maiden.  And 
Alcinous,  moved  by  his  princely  bearing,  expresses  the 
wish  that  so  goodly  a  man  would  wed  his  daughter,  and 
be  called  his  son,  there  abiding.  But  the  king  does  not 
insist,  and  the  invitation  was  probably  merely  a  courteous 
form  of  expression  customary  in  those  early  days. 

Only  one  more  glimpse  do  we  have  of  the  Princess 
Nausicaa.  After  a  day  of  athletic  contests  and  various 
entertainments,  Odysseus  has  arrayed  himself  for  the 
evening,  and  is  going  to  join  the  chiefs  at  their  wine. 

"  And  Nausicaa,  dowered  with  beauty  by  the  gods, 
stood  by  the  doorpost  of  the  well-builded  hall,  and  mar- 
velled at  Odysseus,  beholding  him  before  her  eyes,  and 
she  uttered  her  voice  and  spake  to  him  winged  words  : 

" '  Farewell,  stranger,  and  even  in  thine  own  country 
bethink  thee  of  me  upon  a  time,  for  that  to  me  first  thou 
owest  the  ransom  of  life.' 

"  And  Odysseus  of  many  counsels  answered  her,  saying: 
'  Nausicaa,  daughter  of  great-hearted  Alcinous,  yea,  may 
Zeus,  the  thunderer,  the  lord  of  Hera,  grant  me  to  reach 
my  home  and  see  the  day  of  my  returning;  so  would  I, 


WOMEN  OF  THE  ODYSSEY  75 

even  there,  do  thee  worship  as  to  a  god,  all  my  days  for 
evermore,  for  thou,  lady,  hast  given  me  my  life.'  " 

Thus  delicately  did  Odysseus  make  a  patron  saint  of 
the  pure-hearted  maiden,  who  had  so  innocently  shown 
her  fondness  for  him. 

Royally  was  Odysseus  entertained  by  King  Alcinous  and 
his  noble-hearted  queen,  Arete,  daughter  of  his  brother, 
who  "was  honored  by  him  as  no  other  woman  in  the 
world  is  honored,  of  all  that  nowadays  keep  house  under 
the  hand  of  their  lords.  Thus  she  hath,  and  hath  ever 
had,  all  worship  heartily  from  her  dear  children  and  from 
her  lord  Alcinous  and  from  all  the  folk,  who  look  on  her  as 
on  a  goddess,  and  greet  her  with  reverent  speech  when 
she  goes  about  the  town.  Yea,  for  she,  too,  hath  no  lack 
of  understanding.  To  whomsoever  she  shows  favor,  even 
if  they  be  men,  she  ends  their  feuds." 

After  the  feast,  Demodocus  the  minstrel  sang  the  story 
of  the  Wooden  Horse;  and  at  the  memory  of  all  he  had 
suffered,  the  heart  of  Odysseus  melted  and  the  tears  wet 
his  cheeks  beneath  his  eyelids.  His  host  marked  his  grief, 
and  begged  him  to  tell  the  story  of  his  adventures.  Odys- 
seus complied  by  giving  an  account  of  his  wanderings, 
from  the  fall  of  Troy  up  to  his  arrival  among  the  Phaea- 
cians.  The  hero  had  struggled  time  and  again  against 
men,  against  giants  and  monsters,  against  the  forces  of 
nature,  and  finally  against  an  adversary  yet  more  power- 
ful— the  love  of  goddesses. 

Among  his  adventures  was  the  story  of  his  trip  to  the 
isle  of  >£a,  where  dwelt  Circe,  an  awful  goddess,  of  mortal 
speech,  own  sister  of  the  wizard  ^Eetes,  and  aunt  of  the 
more  terrible  enchantress  Medea.  She  dwelt  in  a  house 
of  polished  stone,  and  all  round  her  palace  mountain-bred 
wolves  and  lions  were  roaming,  whom  she  herself  had 
bewitched  with  evil  drugs.  As  half  his  band  approached 


76  WOMAN 

the  house,  they  heard  Circe  singing  in  a  sweet  voice  as  she 
passed  to  and  fro  before  the  great  web,  imperishable,  such 
as  is  the  handiwork  of  goddesses,  fine  of  woof  and  full  of 
grace  and  splendor;  truly  a  fascinating  goddess  was  she, 
though  rather  gruesome  in  her  surroundings.  When  the 
comrades  of  Odysseus  called  to  her,  she  graciously  invited 
them  in.  "So  she  led  them  in  and  set  them  upon  chairs 
and  high  seats,  and  made  them  a  mess  of  cheese  and  barley 
meal  and  yellow  honey  with  Pramnian  wine,  and  mixed 
harmful  drugs  with  the  food  to  make  them  utterly  forget 
their  own  country.  Now,  when  she  had  given  them  the 
cup  and  they  had  drunk  it  off,  presently  she  smote  them 
with  a  wand,  and  in  the  sties  of  the  swine  she  penned 
them.  So  they  had  the  head  and  voice,  the  bristles  and 
the  shape,  of  swine,  but  their  mind  abode  even  as  of  old. 
Thus  were  they  penned  there  weeping,  and  Circe  flung 
them  acorns  and  mast  and  fruit  of  the  cornel  tree  to  eat, 
whereon  wallowing  swine  do  always  batten." 

Only  one  had  been  wise  enough  not  to  enter,  and  he 
rushed  back  to  tell  the  tale  to  his  lord.  Odysseus  started 
off  alone  to  rescue  his  comrades;  and  Hermes  met  him  on 
the  way,  in  the  likeness  of  a  young  man,  and  gave  him 
moly,  a  magic  herb,  and  full  directions  for  its  use,  to  ward 
off  enchantment. 

Fair  Circe  receives  him  most  graciously  and  prepares 
also  for  him  the  magic  potion,  but  for  once  her  charm 
fails.  He  draws  his  sword  to  slay  her,  and  then  she 
becomes  the  suppliant.  She  has  found  her  match,  and  at 
once,  as  if  she  were  a  mortal,  falls  in  love  with  him.  Her 
bonhomie  is  now  her  greatest  charm.  She  swears  a  great 
oath  not  to  harm  him  or  his«  companions,  and  restores  to 
the  natural  form  those  whom  she  had  already  bewitched. 
Royal  entertainment  and  gracious  hospitality  and  words  of 
counsel  are  now  the  order  of  the  day — attendant  nymphs, 


WOMEN  OF  THE  ODYSSEY  77 

delicious  baths,  and  sumptuous  banquets.  So  there  they 
remained  for  a  full  year,  feasting  on  abundant  flesh  and 
sweetest  wine. 

Lady  Circe  proved  herself  to  be  the  counsellor  and  friend 
of  Odysseus,  and  showed  him  how  to  carry  out  his  fond 
desire  of  visiting  the  realm  of  Hades,  to  seek  the  spirit  of 
Theban  Tiresias,  that  he  might  unfold  to  the  wanderer 
his  future.  Then,  clad  in  a  great,  shining  robe,  light  of 
woof  and  gracious,  with  a  fair  golden  girdle  about  her 
waist,  and  a  veil  upon  her  head,  she  bade  farewell  to 
Odysseus  and  his  crew,  and  sent  a  favoring  wind  as  a 
kindly  escort  to  the  dark-prowed  ship. 

During  his  descent  into  Hades,  Odysseus  discourses 
with  the  Theban  seer,  who  makes  known  to  him  his  des- 
tiny, and  also  with  the  wraith  of  his  mother,  who  tells  him 
that  faithful  Penelope  abides  with  steadfast  spirit  in  his 
halls,  and  wearily  for  her  the  nights  wane  always  and  the 
days  in  the  shedding  of  tears;  and  how  she  herself  was 
reft  of  sweet  life  through  her  sore  longing  for  him. 

And,  after  her,  there  appears  a  great  company  of  the 
famous  women  of  heroic  times,  wives  and  daughters  of 
mighty  men,  who  had  been  beloved  of  gods  and  illustrious 
mortals, — Tyro,  ancestress  of  Nestor's  house;  and  Antiope, 
mother  of  Amphion  and  Zethus,  founders  of  seven-gated 
Thebes;  and  Alcmene,  mother  of  Heracles;  and  Epicaste, 
mother  of  OEdipus,  who  was  wedded  to  her  own  son;  and 
lovely  Chloris,  wife  of  Neleus;  and  Leda,  mother  of  Castor 
and  Pollux;  and  Iphimedia,  and  Phaedra,  and  Procris,  and 
Maera,  and  Clymene,  and  hateful  Eriphyle,  and  innu- 
merable other  wives  and  daughters  of  heroes, — Homer's 
Catalogue  of  Famous  Women,  who  had  exerted  mighty 
influence  in  heroic  times. 

Upon  Odysseus's  return  to  the  island  of  ALa.,  Circe 
greets  them,  and  once  more  they  enjoy  meat  and  bread 


78  WOMAN 

in  plenty  and  dark  red  wine.  And  our  hero  Circe  leads 
apart  and  makes  him  sit  down,  and  lays  herself  at  his  feet 
and  asks  all  his  tale.  She  then  warns  him  of  the  dan- 
gers he  has  yet  to  encounter,  and  tells  him  how  to  meet 
them.  Then,  with  words  of  farewell,  she  sends  the  trav- 
ellers on  their  voyage  with  a  favoring  breeze.  First, 
Odysseus  encounters  the  Sirens,  whose  enchanting  strains 
he  enjoys  while  he  is  bound  tight  to  the  mast,  and  the  ears 
of  his  companions  are  deafened  with  wax;  he  evades  the 
Clashing  Rocks,  escapes  Scylla  and  Charybdis;  and  at 
last,  on  the  Isle  of  the  Sun,  his  comrades  slaughter  and 
devour  the  sacred  cattle  of  Helios — in  violation  of  the 
warnings  of  Tiresias  and  Circe.  All  are  in  consequence 
lost  in  a  shipwreck,  save  Odysseus,  who,  after  floating 
about  for  ten  days  on  a  raft,  reaches  the  island  of  Ogygia, 
abode  of  the  fair  nymph  Calypso,  who  holds  him  as 
her  beloved  for  eight  long  years  and  would  make  him 
immortal. 

Thus  the  tale  ended — all  are  spellbound  throughout  the 
shadowy  halls  at  the  story,  and  Alcinous  and  his  courtiers 
offer  all  manner  of  gifts  to  Odysseus.  The  next  day,  a 
ship  is  got  ready  for  its  voyage  to  far-off  Ithaca;  the  gifts 
are  stored  on  board,  a  farewell  feast  is  held,  and  Odysseus 
bids  farewell  to  his  gracious  hosts: 

"  My  lord  Alcinous,  most  notable  of  all  the  people,  pour 
ye  the  drink  offering,  and  send  me  safe  upon  my  way; 
and  as  for  you,  fare  ye  well.  For  now  have  I  all  that 
my  heart  desired,  an  escort  and  loving  gifts.  May  the 
gods  of  heaven  give  me  good  fortune  with  them,  and  may 
I  find  my  noble  wife  in  my  home  with  my  friends  un- 
harmed, while  ye,  for  your  part,  abide  here  and  make 
glad  your  gentle  wives  and  children;  and  may  the  gods 
vouchsafe  all  manner  of  good,  and  may  no  evil  come  nigh 
the  people!" 


WOMEN  OF  THE  ODYSSEY  79 

Then,  after  a  grateful  farewell  to  Queen  Arete,  the 
hero  is  conducted  to  the  waiting  ship,  and  there  left  re- 
clining upon  the  soft  rugs  that  have  been  spread  for  him, 
and  soon  a  sound  sleep,  very  sweet,  falls  upon  his  eyelids. 

When  Odysseus  awakes,  he  is  in  his  dear  native  land, 
though  he  does  not  recognize  it  until  the  goddess  Athena 
appears  and  tells  him  how  he  is  to  regain  wife  and  king- 
dom. For  us,  the  rest  of  the  story  centres  about  Queen 
Penelope,  who  for  so  many,  many  years  has  been  awaiting 
the  return  of  her  lord. 

Odysseus,  disguised  by  the  goddess  in  the  form  of  an 
aged  beggar,  goes  to  the  hut  of  the  swineherd  Eumasus, 
with  whose  aid  the  plot  for  the  destruction  of  the  wooers 
is  to  be  carried  out;  and  Athena  summons  Telemachus  to 
return  from  Lacedasmon  to  meet  his  father  and  bear  his 
part  in  the  final  scenes.  When  the  young  man  returns  to 
the  palace,  after  his  interview  with  his  father,  "the  nurse 
Euryclea  saw  him  far  before  the  rest,  as  she  was  strewing 
skin  coverlets  upon  the  carven  chairs;  and  straightway 
she  drew  near  him,  weeping,  and  all  the  other  maidens 
of  Odysseus,  of  the  hardy  heart,  gathered  about  him,  and 
kissed  him  lovingly  on  the  head  and  shoulders.  Now  wise 
Penelope  came  forth  from  her  chamber,  like  Artemis  or 
golden  Aphrodite,  and  cast  her  arms  about  her  dear  son, 
and  fell  a-weeping,  and  kissed  his  face  and  both  his  beauti- 
ful eyes,  and  wept  aloud,  and  spake  to  him  winged  words: 

"  '  Thou  art  come, Telemachus,  sweet  light  of  mine  eyes; 
methought  I  should  see  thee  never  again,  after  thou  hadst 
gone  in  thy  ship  to  Pylus,  secretly,  and  without  my  will, 
to  seek  tidings  of  thy  dear  father.  Come  now,  tell  me, 
what  sign  didst  thou  get  of  him?'  " 

Telemachus  tells  his  mother  of  his  journey,  and  his 
friend  Theoclymenus,  who  has  the  gift  of  second-sight, 
prophesies  the  speedy  return  of  Odysseus.  Soon  the 


80  WOMAN 

hero  himself  appears  as  a  beggar  in  his  own  halls,  and 
is  roughly  treated  by  the  haughty  wooers.  He  soundly 
whips  the  braggart  beggar  Irus,  and  the  story  of  his  pres- 
ence is  noised  throughout  the  house. 

Constant  Penelope  is  ever  anxious  to  hear  some  word 
of  her  lord,  and  every  wandering  stranger  with  a  tale  to 
tell  could  win  rich  gifts  from  her  by  devising  some  story  of 
Odysseus.  She  has  heard  of  the  beggar  in  her  halls,  and 
summons  him  to  her  presence  and  questions  him,  and  tells 
him  of  her  grief  and  her  longing  for  more  news  of  the 
absent  one.  When  crafty  Odysseus  fashioned  a  story  of 
his  entertaining  her  lord  in  Crete,  her  tears  flowed  as 
she  listened,  and  she  wept  for  her  own  lord  who  was  sit- 
ting by  her.  The  disguised  hero  had  compassion  for  his 
wife;  but  he  craftily  hid  his  tears,  and  described  the  ap- 
pearance of  Odysseus  so  fully  that  she  could  not  deny  the 
certain  likeness. 

Then  the  aged  nurse  Euryclea,  who  had  tended  him  in 
his  youth,  is  asked  to  wash  the  feet  of  the  old  man.  As 
the  crone  makes  ready  the  caldron,  a  sudden  fear  seizes 
Odysseus  lest  when  she  handles  his  foot  she  might  know 
the  scar  of  the  wound  that  the  boar  had  dealt  him  with  its 
white  tusk  in  his  boyhood.  When  the  old  woman  took 
the  scarred  limb,  she  knew  it  by  the  touch,  and  grief  and 
joy  seized  her,  and  she  called  him  Odysseus,  her  dear 
child.  Then  would  she  have  revealed  the  glad  news  to 
Penelope,  had  Odysseus  not  seized  her  by  the  throat 
and  made  her  swear  to  keep  his  presence  secret  until  the 
slaying  of  the  lordly  wooers. 

Next  day  occurs  the  famous  trial  of  the  bow  of  Odys- 
seus, which  none  of  the  suitors  can  draw;  then  Odysseus 
gets  the  bow  into  his  hands,  strings  it,  sends  the  arrow 
through  the  axheads,  and  finally,  leaping  on  the  stone 
threshold,  deals  his  shafts  among  the  wooers.  The 


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WOMEN  OF  THE  ODYSSEY  8 1 

wretched  company  are  all  slaughtered,  the  faithless  women 
of  the  household  are  hanged,  and  ominous  silence  reigns 
over  the  palace  of  Odysseus. 

Euryclea  hastens  to  the  upper  chamber  to  bring  to 
Queen  Penelope  the  good  news  that  Odysseus  has  surely 
come  and  has  slain  the  haughty  wooers.  The  fair  lady 
can  with  difficulty  believe  the  tidings,  but  she  is  finally 
persuaded  to  go  down  to  see  the  wooers  dead  and  him 
that  slew  them. 

"  With  the  word,  she  went  down  from  the  upper  cham- 
ber, and  much  her  heart  debated  whether  she  should  stand 
apart  and  question  her  dear  lord  or  draw  nigh  and  clasp 
his  head  and  hands.  But  when  she  had  come  within  and 
had  crossed  the  threshold  of  stone,  she  sat  down  over 
against  Odysseus,  in  the  light  of  the  fire,  by  the  further 
wall.  Now,  he  was  sitting  by  the  tall  pillar,  looking  down 
and  waiting  to  know  if  perchance  his  noble  wife  would 
speak  to  him,  when  her  eyes  beheld  him.  But  she  sat 
long  in  silence,  and  amazement  came  upon  her  soul,  and 
now  she  would  look  upon  him  steadfastly  with  her  eyes, 
and  now  again  she  knew  him  not,  for  that  he  was  clad  in 
vile  raiment.  And  Telemachus  rebuked  her,  and  spake 
and  hailed  her: 

" '  Mother  mine,  ill  mother,  of  an  ungentle  heart,  why 
turnest  thou  thus  away  from  my  father,  and  dost  not  sit 
by  him  and  question  him  and  ask  him  all?  No  other 
woman  in  the  world  would  harden  her  heart  to  stand  thus 
aloof  from  her  lord,  who,  after  much  travail  and  sore,  had 
come  to  her  in  the  twentieth  year  to  his  own  country. 
But  thy  heart  is  ever  harder  than  stone.' 

"Then  wise  Penelope  answered  him,  saying:  'Child, 
my  mind  is  amazed  within  me,  and  I  have  no  strength  to 
speak,  or  to  ask  him  aught,  nay,  or  to  look  on  him  face 
to  face.  But  if  in  truth  this  be  Odysseus,  and  he  hath 


82  WOMAN 

indeed  come  home,  verily  we  shall  be  aware  of  each  other 
the  more  surely;  for  we  have  tokens  that  we  twain  know 
of,  even  we,  secret  from  all  others.' 

"  So  she  spake,  and  the  steadfast,  goodly  Odysseus 
smiled,  and  quickly  he  spake  to  Telemachus  winged  words: 
'  Telemachus,  leave  now  thy  mother  to  make  trial  of  me 
within  the  chambers;  so  shall  she  soon  come  to  a  better 
knowledge  than  heretofore.' 

"  Meanwhile,  the  housedame  Eurynome  had  bathed  the 
great-hearted  Odysseus  within  his  house,  and  anointed 
him  with  olive  oil,  and  cast  about  him  a  goodly  mantle 
and  a  doublet.  Moreover,  Athena  shed  great  beauty  from 
his  head  downwards,  and  made  him  greater  and  more 
mighty  to  behold,  and  from  his  head  caused  deep,  curling 
locks  to  flow,  like  the  hyacinth  flower.  And  as  when 
some  skilful  man  overlays  gold  upon  silver,  one  that  He- 
phsestus  and  Pallas  Athena  have  taught  all  manner  of 
craft,  and  full  of  grace  is  his  handiwork,  even  so  did 
Athena  shed  grace  about  his  head  and  shoulders;  and  forth 
from  the  bath  he  came,  in  form  like  to  the  immortals. 
Then  he  sat  down  again  on  the  high  seat,  whence  he  had 
arisen,  over  against  his  wife,  and  spake  to  her,  saying: 

"  'Strange  lady,  surely  to  thee,  above  all  womankind, 
the  Olympians  have  given  a  heart  that  cannot  be  soft- 
ened. No  other  woman  in  the  world  would  harden  her 
heart  to  stand  thus  aloof  from  her  husband,  who,  after 
much  travail  and  sore,  had  come  to  her,  in  the  twentieth 
year,  to  his  own  country. — Nay,  come,  nurse,  strew  a  bed 
for  me  to  lie  all  alone,  for  assuredly  her  spirit  within  her 
is  as  iron.' 

"Then  wise  Penelope  answered  him  again:  'Strange 
man,  I  have  no  proud  thoughts,  nor  do  I  think  scorn  of 
thee,  nor  am  I  too  greatly  astonished,  but  I  know  right 
well  what  manner  of  man  thou  wert  when  thou  wentest 


WOMEN  OF  THE  ODYSSEY  83 

forth  out  of  Ithaca,  on  the  long-oared  galley. — But  come, 
Euryclea,  spread  for  him  the  good  bedstead  outside  the 
stablished  bridal  chamber  that  he  built  himself.  Thither 
bring  ye  forth  the  good  bedstead,  and  cast  bedding  thereon, 
even  fleeces  and  rugs  and  shining  blankets.' 

"  So  she  spake  and  made  trial  of  her  lord,  but  Odysseus 
in  sore  displeasure  spake  to  his  true  wife,  saying:  '  Verily, 
a  bitter  word  is  this,  lady,  that  thou  hast  spoken.  Who 
has  set  my  bed  otherwhere?  Hard  would  it  be  for  one, 
how  skilled  soever,  unless  a  god  were  to  come  that  might 
easily  set  it  in  another  place,  if  so  he  would.  But  of  men 
there  is  none  living,  howsoever  strong  in  his  youth,  that 
could  lightly  upheave  it;  for  a  great  marvel  is  wrought  in 
the  fashion  of  the  bed,  and  it  was  I  that  made  it,  and  none 
other.  There  was  growing  a  bush  of  olive,  long  of  leaf, 
and  most  goodly  of  growth,  within  the  inner  court,  and 
the  stem  as  large  as  a  pillar.  Round  about  this  I  built  the 
chamber,  till  I  had  finished  it,  with  stones  close  set,  and 
I  roofed  it  over  well  and  added  thereto  compacted  doors 
fitting  well.  Next  I  sheared  off  all  the  light  wood  of  the 
long-leaved  olive,  and  rough-hewed  the  trunk  upwards  from 
the  root,  and  smoothed  it  around  with  the  adze,  well  and 
skilfully,  and  made  straight  the  line  thereto  and  so  fash- 
ioned it  into  the  bedpost,  and  I  bored  it  all  with  the  auger. 
Beginning  from  this  headpost,  I  wrought  at  the  bedstead 
till  I  had  finished  it,  and  made  it  fair  with  inlaid  work  of 
gold  and  of  silver  and  of  ivory.  Then  I  made  fast  therein 
a  bright  purple  band  of  oxhide.  Even  so  I  declare  to  thee 
this  token,  and  I  know  not,  lady,  if  the  bedstead  be  yet 
fast  in  its  place,  or  if  some  man  has  cut  away  the  stem 
of  the  olive  tree  and  set  the  bedstead  otherwhere.' 

"  So  he  spake,  and  at  once  her  knees  were  loosened,  and 
her  heart  melted  within  her,  as  she  knew  the  sure  tokens 
that  Odysseus  showed  her.  Then  she  fell  a-weeping,  and 


84  WOMAN 

ran  straight  towards  him  and  cast  her  hands  about  his 
neck,  and  kissed  his  head  and  spake,  saying: 

" '  Murmur  not  against  me,  Odysseus,  for  thou  wert 
ever  at  other  times  the  wisest  of  men.  It  is  the  gods  that 
gave  us  sorrow,  the  gods  who  were  jealous  that  we  should 
abide  together  and  have  joy  of  our  youth  and  come  to  the 
threshold  of  old  age.  So  now  be  not  wroth  with  me 
hereat  nor  full  of  indignation  because  I  did  not  welcome 
thee  gladly  as  now,  when  I  first  saw  thee.  For  always 
my  heart  within  my  breast  shuddered  for  fear  lest  some 
man  should  come  and  deceive  me  with  his  words,  for 
many  there  be  that  devise  gainful  schemes  and  evil. 
Nay,  even  Argive  Helen,  daughter  of  Zeus,  would  not 
have  lain  with  a  stranger,  and  taken  him  for  a  lover, 
had  she  known  that  the  warlike  sons  of  the  Achaeans 
would  bring  her  home  again  to  her  own  dear  country. 
Howsoever,  it  was  the  god  that  set  her  upon  this  shameful 
deed;  nor  ever,  ere  that,  did  she  lay  up  in  her  heart  the 
thought  of  this  folly,  a  bitter  folly,  whence  on  us,  too, 
first  came  sorrow.  But  now  that  thou  hast  told  all  the 
sure  tokens  of  our  bed,  which  never  was  seen  by  mortal 
man,  save  by  thee  and  me,  and  one  maiden  only,  the 
daughter  of  Actor,  that  my  father  gave  me  ere  yet  I  had 
come  hither,  she  who  kept  the  doors  of  our  strong  bridal 
chamber,  even  now  dost  thou  bend  my  soul,  all  ungentle 
as  it  is.' 

"  Thus  she  spake,  and  in  his  heart  she  stirred  yet  a 
greater  longing  to  lament,  and  he  wept  as  he  embraced 
his  beloved  wife  and  true.  And  even  as  when  the  sight 
of  land  is  welcome  to  swimmers,  whose  well-wrought  ship 
Poseidon  hath  smitten  on  the  deep,  all  driven  with  the 
wind  and  swelling  waves,  and  but  a  remnant  hath  escaped 
the  gray  sea  water  and  swum  to  the  shore,  and  their 
bodies  are  all  crusted  with  the  brine,  and  gladly  have 


WOMEN  OF  THE  ODYSSEY  85 

they  set  foot  on  land  and  escaped  an  evil  end;  so  welcome 
to  her  was  the  sight  of  her  lord,  and  her  white  arms  she 
would  never  quite  let  go  from  his  neck. 

"  Now  when  the  twain  had  taken  their  fill  of  sweet 
love,  they  had  delight  in  the  tales  which  they  told  one 
to  the  other.  The  fair  lady  spake  of  all  that  she  had 
endured  in  the  halls  at  the  sight  of  the  ruinous  throng  of 
wooers,  who  for  her  sake  slew  many  cattle,  kine,  and 
goodly  sheep;  and  many  a  cask  of  wine  was  broached.  And, 
in  turn,  Odysseus,  of  the  seed  of  Zeus,  recounted  all  the 
griefs  he  had  wrought  on  men,  and  all  his  own  travail  and 
sorrow;  and  she  was  delighted  with  the  story,  and  sweet 
sleep  fell  not  upon  her  eyelids  till  the  tale  was  ended." 

Filled  with  incidents  of  domestic  life  in  heroic  times,  the 
Odyssey  presents  us  a  galaxy  of  women,  if  not  more 
impressive,  at  any  rate  more  brilliant  than  that  of  the 
Iliad.  Of  these  attractive  figures,  who  should  first  merit 
our  consideration,  if  not  the  heroine  of  the  poem? 

Queen,  wife,  mother,  the  sentiment  which  most  char- 
acterizes Penelope  is  love  of  husband,  child,  and  home; 
her  chief  intellectual  trait  is  prudence.  We  find  in  her 
the  rare  combination  of  warmth  of  temperament  and  sanity 
of  judgment.  Her  sense  of  prudence  does  not  exclude 
depth  of  devotion,  longings  for  the  absent  one,  and  out- 
bursts of  indignation  at  the  wrongs  inflicted  on  her  son. 
Her  love  for  Odysseus  is  intense  and  constant.  There  is 
a  beautiful  legend  that  when  Odysseus  came  to  carry  off 
his  bride,  her  father  entreated  her  to  remain  with  him 
in  his  old  age.  The  chariot  is  ready  to  bear  her  away, 
and  the  maiden  pauses  just  a  moment,  hesitating  'twixt 
love  and  duty.  Odysseus  gives  her  her  choice;  but, 
drawing  down  her  veil,  she  signifies  that  where  her  lover 
goes  there  will  she  go.  This  intensity  of  affection  marks 
the  twenty  long  years  of  separation.  Every  night,  she 


86  WOMAN 

bewails  Odysseus,  her  dear  lord,  till  gray-eyed  Athena 
casts  sweet  sleep  upon  her  eyelids.  She  ever  longs  for, 
though  at  times  despairs  of,  his  return;  and  she  inquires  of 
every  stranger,  that  she  may  learn  something  of  the  wan- 
derer. Penelope  is  also  a  devoted  mother.  Ever  anxious 
about  her  son,  she  grieves  for  him  when  absent,  and  when 
at  home  guards  him  as  far  as  possible  from  the  insolence 
of  the  wooers.  In  her  obedience  to  her  son,  she  seems  to 
have  followed  the  Greek  custom  expected  of  a  widow. 

In  her  relations  with  the  wooers,  Penelope  adopted  the 
only  attitude  which  was  possible  for  a  woman  who  would 
wait  indefinitely  for  the  return  of  her  lord.  Parents  and 
son,  Greek  custom  and  precedents,  all  expected  that  a 
widow  should  remarry  after  so  long  an  interval.  And 
the  wooers  were  insolent,  overwhelming  the  palace  and 
rapidly  making  away  with  the  patrimony  of  Telemachus. 
Hence,  only  by  coquettish  dallying  could  she  postpone  the 
evil  day. 

In  all  things  Penelope  was  a  model  housewife,  ever  en- 
gaged in  feminine  tasks,  overseeing  her  maidens  at  their 
work,  watching  over  the  younger  servants  with  the  solici- 
tude of  a  mother,  and  observing  toward  the  aged  slave  the 
deference  of  a  daughter.  But  when  the  uncivil  Melantho  is 
deficient  in  respect,  the  queen  calls  her  severely  to  a  sense 
of  her  duty.  When  her  husband  returns,  for  whom  she  has 
waited  during  twenty  long  years  of  widowhood,  she  does 
not  throw  herself  straightway  into  his  arms.  She  fears  a 
god  may  deceive  her,  and,  the  better  to  preserve  for  Odys- 
seus the  treasures  of  the  tenderness  stored  up  in  her  heart, 
she  devises  every  cunning  test  to  make  sure  it  is  really  he. 
Never  was  there  in  woman's  heart  a  more  ardent  flame  of 
love  and  devotion;  never  in  a  woman's  head  intelligence 
so  subtle,  judgment  so  sure.  When  we  fully  appreciate 
the  charm  of  Penelope's  character,  we  better  understand 


WOMEN  OF  THE  ODYSSEY  87 

how  the  hero  should  sacrifice  the  devotion  of  a  goddess  for 
the  love  of  such  a  woman. 

"  These  two  meet  at  last  together,  he  after  his  long 
wanderings,  and  she  after  having  suffered  the  insistence  of 
suitors  in  her  palace;  and  this  is  the  pathos  of  the  Odys- 
sey. The  woman,  in  spite  of  her  withered  youth  and 
tearful  years  of  widowhood,  is  still  expectant  of  her  lord. 
He,  unconquered  by  the  pleasures  cast  across  his  path, 
unter rified  by  all  the  dangers  he  endures,  clings  in  thought 
to  the  bride  whom  he  led  forth,  a  blushing  maiden,  from 
her  father's  halls.  O  just,  subtle,  and  mighty  Homer! 
There  is  nothing  of  Greek  here  more  than  of  Hebrew,  or 
of  Latin,  or  of  German.  It  is  pure  humanity." 

Closely  interwoven  with  the  plot  of  the  Odyssey  is  the 
aged  and  touching  figure  of  the  faithful  slave  Euryclea, 
who  by  her  devotion  has  become  a  member  of  the  family 
she  serves.  Taken  captive  in  her  girlhood,  she  had  nursed 
Odysseus  in  his  childhood,  and,  later,  his  own  son,Telem- 
achus.  Thus  she  is  to  both  a  second  mother.  She  assists 
the  queen  in  managing  the  house,  in  bringing  up  her  son, 
in  succoring  the  stranger.  When  she  recognizes  her 
master,  how  ravishing  is  her  joy,  how  she  longs  to  share 
it  with  her  mistress!  Yet  she  knows  how  to  keep  a  secret. 

Circe  and  Calypso  are  styled  goddesses,  yet  they  are 
brought  down  to  earth  in  their  love  for  Odysseus,  and 
are  thoroughly  human  in  their  traits.  Calypso  feeds  on 
ambrosia  and  nectar,  and  lives  in  a  mysterious  grotto 
on  an  enchanted  island;  yet  she  loves  like  any  mortal 
woman,  and  bitter  is  her  wail  when  she  receives  the  com- 
mand of  the  gods  to  let  Odysseus  go.  The  enchantress 
Circe  is  much  more  dangerous,  and  takes  a  ghoulish 
delight  in  metamorphosing  men  into  swine;  yet,  when 
she  falls  in  love  with  Odysseus,  she  is  the  queenly  lady, 
considerate  of  his  comrades,  and  in  every  way  his  guide, 


88  WOMAN 

philosopher,  and  friend.  Unlike  Calypso,  she  seeks  not 
to  detain  Odysseus  against  the  will  of  the  gods,  but  after 
the  expiration  of  a  year  sends  him  on  his  way. 

To  return  to  the  domestic  heroines:  Queen  Arete  of 
Phseacia  is,  like  Penelope,  an  example  of  the  elevated 
position  held  by  women  in  the  royal  houses  of  heroic 
times.  She  exerts  over  the  subjects  of  her  husband  the 
same  influence  she  exercises  in  the  family  circle.  Her 
children  share  the  reverence  and  affection  she  has  from 
husband  and  people.  To  her  Odysseus  makes  supplica- 
tion; for  if  he  win  her  favor,  sure  is  his  return  to  his 
native  land;  she  bids  her  people  prepare  gifts  for  her  guest- 
friend  at  his  departure,  and  to  her  Odysseus  extends  the 
pledging  cup  in  saying  farewell. 

Where  can  one  find  phrases  sufficiently  subtle,  expres- 
sions sufficiently  delicate,  to  reproduce  the  sweet  picture 
of  Nausicaa?  Of  all  the  creations  of  poetic  fancy,  none 
equals  her  in  perennial  charm.  "She  is  simply,"  says 
Symonds,  "  the  most  perfect  maiden,  the  purest,  freshest, 
lightest-hearted  girl  of  Greek  romance."  This  immortal 
child  of  the  poetic  imagination  will,  with  two  real  women, — 
Lesbian  Sappho,  and  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots, — have  lovers 
in  every  age  and  in  every  clime.  Though  merely  a  poet's 
fancy,  Nausicaa  is  absolutely  human  and  full  of  life,  and 
thus  differs  from  the  heroine  of  The  Tempest,  who  of  all 
poetic  creations  most  resembles  her.  Note  her  naive 
grace  and  charm,  her  girlish  vivacity  and  joy,  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  scene;  and  when  the  occasion  demands  it, 
the  girl  becomes  the  woman,  and  with  unaffected  sim- 
plicity and  dignity  she  addresses  the  hero.  No  wonder 
that  Odysseus  should  seem  the  Prince  Charming  for  whom 
she  had  been  waiting;  and  there  may  have  been  a  slight 
chill  of  disappointment  when,  in  expressing  his  gratitude 
for  his  deliverance,  he  made  her  his  patron  saint  instead  of 


WOMEN  OF  THE  ODYSSEY  89 

his  sweetheart.  Yet,  no  doubt,  she  soon  learned  that  the 
unknown  hero  was  the  great  Odysseus,  husband  of  faith- 
ful Penelope,  and  hers  was  too  buoyant,  too  healthy  a 
nature  to  pine  away  and  die  at  the  shattering  of  a  dream. 
Then,  even  if  he  had  been  a  widower,  he  was  too  old  for 
this  bright  beauty.  But  what  an  ideal  father-in-law  he 
would  make!  And  if  the  young  Telemachus  should  only 
come  to  Scheria! — and  how  do  we  know  that  he  did  not 
later  arrive  there,  sent  a-courting  by  Odysseus  after  the 
restoration  of  his  realm?  Eustathius  preserves  a  tradi- 
tion, based  on  such  good  authorities  as  Hellanicus  and 
Aristotle,  that  Telemachus  actually  did  wed  the  Princess 
Nausicaa;  and  the  Athenian  orator  Andocides  claimed  to 
be  a  descendant  of  this  illustrious  pair. 

So  beautiful  a  legend  could  not  escape  treatment  by  later 
poets.  Alcman,  one  of  the  earliest  lyric  composers,  de- 
scribes in  a  poem  the  meeting  of  Odysseus  and  Nausicaa, 
and  Sophocles  wrote  a  drama  entitled  Nausicaa,  or  The 
Washers;  and  there  is  a  tradition  that,  contrary  to  his 
usual  custom,  the  poet  himself  "  appeared  as  an  actor, 
winning  much  applause  by  his  beauty  and  grace  in  the 
dancing  and  rhythmic  ball  play,  in  the  character  of  Nau- 
sicaa herself."  Lucian  names  her  among  the  heroines 
of  mythical  times  who,  through  their  goodness  of  heart, 
humanity,  gentleness  of  demeanor,  and  compassion  toward 
the  needy,  deserve  to  rank  as  patterns  of  womanly  virtue. 

With  such  brilliant  pictures  of  domestic  life — the  queens 
Penelope,  Helen,  and  Arete,  exerting  a  womanly  influ- 
ence in  the  palaces,  the  goddess-lovers  Circe  and  Calypso 
on  their  enchanted  islands,  the  slave  Euryclea  tenderly 
caring  for  mistress  and  young  master,  and  the  maiden 
Nausicaa,  engaged  in  occupation  and  in  pastime  with  her 
girl  friends — the  Odyssey  is  a  mirror  reflecting  the  char- 
acter of  the  Heroic  Age  of  Greece. 


V 


itgrtc 


THE  LYRIC  AGE 

FROM  the  fascinating  visions  of  the  heroic  past  as  they 
are  presented  in  the  Homeric  poems,  we  must  now  prepare 
to  descend  to  the  actualities  of  life  as  they  disclose  them- 
selves at  the  dawn  of  Greek  history.  Hesiod,  the  epic 
poet  of  Boeotia,  constitutes  the  bridge,  as  regards  social  con- 
ditions, between  the  Heroic  Age  and  the  early  historical 
periods  of  the  various  peoples  and  cities  of  Greece.  He 
describes  the  actual  conditions  about  him,  and  gives  us 
glimpses  of  the  life  of  the  Greek  people  which  prepare 
us  for  the  great  changes  that  have  taken  place  through 
the  overturning  of  monarchies,  the  spread  of  commerce 
and  colonization,  and  the  awakening  of  the  common  people 
to  a  sense  of  their  rights  and  their  power.  Hence  we  may 
expect  to  find  in  his  poetry  much  light  on  the  status  of 
woman  in  remote  times. 

Hesiod  is  usually  ascribed  to  the  second  half  of  the 
ninth  century  before  the  Christian  Era.  He  lived  at 
Ascra,  near  Mount  Helicon,  in  Boeotia,  the  original  home 
of  the  yEolians.  Amid  agricultural  surroundings  the  poet 
grew  up.  Defrauded  by  his  brother  Perses  of  part  of  his  in- 
heritance, he  experienced  hardships  that  quickened  his 
sympathy  for  the  plain  people  and  led  him  to  reflection 
on  life  and  its  problems.  He  was  commissioned  by  the 

93 


94  WOMAN 

Muses,  who  appeared  to  him  on  Mount  Helicon,  to  utter 
true  things  to  men — a  phrase  which  strikes  the  keynote  to 
his  poetry,  for  he  dealt  in  realities  and  sought  to  alleviate 
the  social  conditions  of  his  times.  His  principal  works 
are  the  Works  and  Days  and  the  Theogony;  there  was 
also  a  Hesiodic  Catalogue  of  Women,  attested  by  many 
allusions  in  classical  writers,  but,  unfortunately  for  our 
purpose,  altogether  lost  to  us.  Very  probably  in  this 
work,  Hesiod  or  his  school  told  of  the  aristocratic  women 
of  Greek  mythology,  from  whose  union  with  gods  had 
sprung  heroes.  Lacking  this,  Hesiod  is  to  us  "the  poet 
of  the  Helots,"  and  we  gain  from  him  only  knowledge  of 
the  common  people  of  Boeotia  and  their  manner  of  life. 

Hesiod's  estimate  of  women  is  vastly  inferior  to  that 
of  Homer.  Homer,  who  sang  for  aristocratic  ladies  at  the 
court  of  kings,  has  introduced  us  into  a  society  where 
women  presided  over  their  houses  with  grace  and  dignity, 
and  softened  and  refined  the  rough,  warlike  manners  of 
men.  Hesiod,  the  poet  of  the  plain  people,  is  impressed 
with  the  hopelessness  of  the  conditions  about  him.  The 
people  are  oppressed  by  the  nobles;  it  is  impossible  for 
them  to  obtain  justice;  the  world  seems  all  wrong.  And 
in  seeking  the  causes  of  existing  evils,  the  poet  traces 
them  back  to  the  one  great  evil  which  the  gods  have 
inflicted  upon  men;  and  that  is — woman. 

This  indictment  first  finds  expression  in  his  version  of 
the  myth  of  Pandora,  the  Mother  Eve  of  Greek  legend. 

Hesiod  tells  us  in  this  poem  that  in  old  days  the  human 
race  had  the  use  of  fire,  and  in  gratitude  to  the  gods  offered 
burnt  sacrifice.  But  Prometheus  had  defrauded  the  gods 
of  their  just  share  of  the  sacrifices  and  had  compelled  Zeus 
to  be  content  with  merely  the  bones  and  fat;  and,  in  re- 
turn for  this  deception,  Zeus  devised  grievous  troubles  for 
mortals  by  depriving  them  of  fire.  Prometheus  then  stole 


THE  LYRIC  AGE  95 

fire  from  heaven.  Zeus,  angered  at  being  outwitted  by 
the  crafty  Prometheus,  determined  to  inflict  on  men  a  bane 
from  which  they  would  not  quickly  recover.  He  straight- 
way commanded  Hephaestus  to  mix  earth  and  water,  to 
endow  the  plastic  form  with  human  voice  and  powers,  and 
to  liken  it  to  a  heavenly  goddess — virginal,  winning,  and 
fair.  Athena  was  commanded  to  teach  her  the  domestic 
virtues;  Aphrodite,  to  endow  her  with  beauty,  eager  de- 
sire, and  passion  that  wastes  the  bodies  of  mortals;  and 
Hermes,  to  bestow  on  her  a  shameless  mind  and  a  treach- 
erous nature.  All  obeyed  the  command  of  Zeus,  and  in 
this  manner  was  fashioned  the  first  woman.  Then  Athena 
added  a  girdle  and  ornaments;  the  Graces  and  Persuasion 
hung  their  golden  chains  over  her  body,  and  the  Hours 
wove  for  her  garlands  of  spring  flowers.  The  name  given 
this  fascinating  creature  was  Pandora,  because  each  of  the 
gods  had  bestowed  on  her  gifts  to  make  her  a  fatal  bane 
unto  mortals. 

Hermes  then  led  her  down  to  earth  to  present  her  to 
Epimetheus,  whom  his  brother  Prometheus  had  bidden 
never  to  receive  any  presents  from  Olympian  Zeus.  Epi- 
metheus, however,  was  captivated  by  Pandora's  beauty 
and  received  her,  and  only  after  the  evil  befell  did  he 
remember  his  brother's  command.  Until  the  advent  of 
woman,  men,  it  is  said,  had  lived  secure  from  trouble, 
free  from  wearisome  labor,  and  safe  from  painful  diseases 
that  bring  death  to  mankind.  But  now  Pandora  with  her 
hands  lifted  the  lid  from  the  great  jar  with  which  the  gods 
had  dowered  her,  the  great  jar  wherein  these  evils  had 
been  securely  imprisoned,  and  let  them  loose  upon  the 
earth.  With  the  sorrows,  hope  had  been  confined;  but 
when  they  were  loosed,  hope  flew  not  forth,  for  too  soon 
Pandora  closed  the  lid  of  the  vessel.  Hence,  laments 
Hesiod,  hopeless  is  the  lot  of  humanity,  while  innumerable 


96  WOMAN 

ills  pass  hither  and  thither  among  hopeless  men.  Such  is 
the  mythus  of  the  fall  of  man,  as  imagined  by  the  early 
Greeks.  Man  was  punished  for  rebelling  against  the  will 
of  heaven.  Woman  is  the  instrument  of  his  chastise- 
ment, thrust  upon  him  by  the  angry  deity.  She  possesses 
every  charm,  every  allurement,  but  her  very  fascination 
is  a  chief  cause  of  ill  to  man.  He  in  his  folly  receives 
her,  and  thence  befall  him  all  the  ills  of  life.  The 
whole  argument  of  Hesiod  in  this  passage  indicates  that 
he  regarded  woman  as  "a  necessary  deduction  from  the 
happiness  of  life,"  as  "the  rift  in  the  lute  that  spoils  its 
music."  Contrasted  with  the  Hebrew  story,  the  Greek 
represents  woman  as  closing  the  door  of  hope  to  man; 
while  the  Hebrew  version  sees  in  her  seed  the  hope  of 
the  salvation  that  is  to  overcome  the  evils  of  the  fall. 
Even  stronger  is  Hesiod's  invective  against  the  female  sex 
in  the  Theogony,  where  he  repeats  the  story  of  Pandora, 
and  concludes  with  the  following  reflections: 

"  From  her  the  sex  of  tender  woman  springs ; 
Pernicious  is  the  race ;  the  woman  tribe 
Dwells  upon  earth,  a  mighty  bane  to  men ; 
No  mates  for  wasting  want  but  luxury ; 
And  as  within  the  close-roofed  hive,  the  drones, 
Helpers  of  sloth,  are  pampered  by  the  bees ; 
These  all  the  day,  till  sinks  the  ruddy  sun, 
Haste  on  the  wing, '  their  murmuring  labors  ply,' 
And  still  cement  the  white  and  waxen  comb ; 
Those  lurk  within  the  covered  hive,  and  reap 
With  glutted  maw  the  fruits  of  others'  toil ; 
Such  evil  did  the  Thunderer  send  to  man 
In  woman's  form,  and  so  he  gave  the  sex, 
111  helpmates  of  intolerable  toils. 
Yet  more  of  ill  instead  of  good  he  gave : 
The  man  who  shunning  wedlock  thinks  to  shun 
The  vexing  cares  that  haunt  the  woman-state, 
And  lonely  waxes  old,  shall  feel  the  want 
Of  one  to  foster  his  declining  years ; 
Though  not  his  life  be  needy,  yet  his  death 


THE   LYRIC  AGE  97 

Shall  scatter  his  possessions  to  strange  heirs, 
And  aliens  from  his  blood.    Or  if  his  lot 
Be  marriage  and  his  spouse  of  modest  fame 
Congenial  to  his  heart,  e'en  then  shall  ill 
Forever  struggle  with  the  partial  good, 
And  cling  to  his  condition.     But  the  man 
Who  gains  the  woman  of  injurious  kind 
Lives  bearing  in  his  secret  soul  and  heart 
Inevitable  sorrow :  ills  so  deep 
As  all  the  balms  of  medicine  cannot  cure." 

This  passage  contains  in  brief  Hesiod's  general  ideas 
concerning  woman.  Pandora  brought  infinite  ills  to  mor- 
tals, for  from  her  sprang  the  tribe  of  woman,  "a  mighty 
bane  to  men."  If  a  man  marry,  he  will  be  sorry;  and  if 
he  refrain  from  marriage,  he  will  regret  it.  A  wretched 
old  age  awaits  the  bachelor;  and  his  possessions,  at  his 
death,  are  dissipated  by  indifferent  kindred.  Even  if  he 
marry,  and  get  a  good  wife,  sorrows  and  blessings  are 
mingled  in  his  lot;  while  if  his  wife  be  bad,  ills  so  deep 
are  his  "as  all  the  balms  of  medicine  cannot  cure."  So 
woman  is  a  being  whose  presence  is  a  necessary  evil; 
without  her,  man's  destiny  is  not  complete,  but  he  must 
endure  the  ills  she  brings  for  the  sake  of  the  possible  bless- 
ing that  may  come  by  sharing  one's  lot  with  her.  A  man, 
says  the  bard  of  Ascra,  cannot  be  too  cautious  in  choosing 
his  helpmate,  as  the  following  sage  counsel  indicates: 

"  Take  to  thy  house  a  woman  for  thy  bride 
When  in  the  ripeness  of  thy  manhood's  pride ; 
Thrice  ten  thy  sum  of  years,  the  nuptial  prime ; 
Nor  fall  far  short  nor  far  exceed  the  time. 
Four  years  the  ripening  virgin  shall  consume, 
And  wed  the  fifth  of  her  expanding  bloom. 
A  virgin  choose :  and  mould  her  manners  chaste ; 
Chief  be  some  neighboring  maid  by  thee  embraced ; 
Look  circumspect  and  long ;  lest  thou  be  found 
The  merry  mock  of  all  the  dwellers  round. 
No  better  lot  has  Providence  assigned 
Than  a  fair  woman  with  a  virtuous  mind ; 


98  WOMAN 

Nor  can  a  worse  befall  than  when  thy  fate 
Allots  a  worthless,  feast-contriving  mate. 
She  with  no  torch  of  mere  material  flame 
Shall  burn  to  tinder  thy  care-wasted  frame ; 
Shall  send  a  fire  thy  vigorous  bones  within 
And  age  unripe  in  bloom  of  years  begin." 

The  vein  of  contempt  for  woman  which  runs  through 
the  verses  of  Hesiod  finds  many  echoes  in  later  writers, 
which  indicates  that  in  this  transition  period,  especially  in 
Ionian  Greece,  evil  influences  were  at  work,  causing  men 
to  rebel  against  the  shackles  of  wedded  life  and  to  fail  to 
realize  the  happiness  they  desired  in  the  home  and  in  the 
family.  It  seems  strange  that  Hesiod,  in  describing  farm 
duties,  should  not  tell  us  more  of  the  important  function 
of  the  housewife.  Yet  in  one  passage  he  merely  empha- 
sizes the  importance  of  starting  with  "a  house,  a  wife, 
and  an  ox  to  plow,"  and  in  other  passages  speaks  dis- 
paragingly of  woman  and  her  work.  So  that  even  in 
lines  where  he  might  well  have  commended  her  virtues 
the  words  of  praise  are  left  unsaid. 

The  two  centuries  of  Greek  history  following  Hesiod 
are  chiefly  known  to  us  through  the  lyric  poets,  as  epic 
poetry  declined  and  the  writing  of  history  had  not  yet 
begun.  Lyric  poetry  is  an  index  to  the  hearts  of  the 
people;  for  in  lyric  poetry  are  expressed  the  thoughts  and 
feelings  of  reflective  man.  Woman  is  the  great  main- 
spring of  existence;  she  it  is  who  is  the  general  cause  of 
man's  thoughts,  emotions,  passions,  joys,  and  sorrows. 
Hence,  as  lyric  poetry  is  the  poetry  of  the  heart,  we  find 
recorded  in  the  verses  of  Grecian  lyrists  man's  attitude 
toward  woman  in  this  period  of  "storm  and  stress"  in 
the  development  of  Greek  nationality. 

Archilochus  is  the  father  of  iambic  poetry,  and  he  made 
it  the  medium  of  expression  of  personal  passion  and  satire. 
With  all  the  ardor  of  his  nature,  he  loved  Neobule,  daughter 


THE  LYRIC  AGE  99 

of  Lycambes,  of  the  island  of  Paros,  where  the  poet  had 
made  his  home.  "Certain  fragments  of  his  poems,  still 
extant,  indicate  the  intensity  of  the  flame  with  which  he 
was  consumed.  Archilochus  has  left  us  an  exquisite 
picture  of  his  loved  one,  clad  in  all  the  beauty  and  grace  a 
poetic  lover  could  portray,  with  a  rose  and  a  myrtle  branch 
in  her  hand,  and  her  tresses  falling  caressingly  over  her 
shoulders.  He  sighed  "were  it  to  touch  but  her  hand," 
and  she  seems  at  first  to  have  returned  his  affection.  The 
lovers  were  betrothed,  but  suddenly  the  father  objected, 
and  the  match  was  broken  off.  Love  immediately  turned 
into  hate,  and  passion  changed  into  rage.  Thereupon,  as 
Horace  says: 

"Archilochum  proprio  rabies  armavit  iambo," 

Archilochus  used  the  iambic  metre  as  his  weapon  of  at- 
tack. As  his  love  had  been  ardent,  so,  when  betrayed, 
his  rage  was  uncontrollable.  Every  possible  taunt  was 
cast  at  those  who  had  deceived  him.  "Each  verse  he 
wrote  was  polished  and  pointed  like  an  arrow  head.  Each 
line  was  steeped  in  the  poison  of  hideous  charges  against 
his  sweetheart,  her  sister,  and  her  father.  The  set  of 
poems  which  he  produced,  and,  as  it  would  appear,  re- 
cited publicly  at  the  festival  of  Demeter,  was  so  charged 
with  wit  and  fire  that  the  country  rang  with  them.  The 
daughters  of  Lycambes,  tradition  avers,  went  straightway 
and  hanged  themselves — unable  to  endure  the  flight  of 
fiery  serpents  that  had  fallen  upon  them;  for,  to  quote  the 
words  of  Browning,  Archilochus  had  the  art  of  writing 
verse  that  'bit  into  the  live  man's  flesh  like  parchment,' 
that  sent  him  wandering,  branded  and  forever  shamed, 
about  his  native  fields  and  streets." 

Archilochus's  verses  indicate  that,  in  the  eighth  century 
before  our  era,  there  was  in  Greece  a  certain  freedom  of 


100  WOMAN 

intercourse  between  the  sexes,  and  that  love  was,  at  times 
at  least,  the  basis  for  betrothal;  it  also  "Shows  the  absolute 
control  of  the  father  over  the  hand  of  his  daughter.  The 
poet's  story  is  also  the  earliest  we  have  of  love  betrayed, 
and  the  name  of  Neobule  is  inextricably  intertwined  with 
the  rise  of  satiric  verse. 

A  different  note  is  struck  by  Archilochus's  contempo- 
rary, Semonides  of  Amorgus,  who  takes  up  and  continues 
the  tradition  of  Hesiod  in  speaking  of  woman  in  tones  of 
contempt  and  disparagement.  He  composed  a  celebrated 
satire  on  woman,  in  which  her  various  temperaments  are 
ascribed  to  a  kinship  with  different  domestic  animals, — 
the  hog,  the  fox,  the  dog,  the  ass,  the  mare,  the  ape, — or 
are  compared  to  mud,  sea  water,  and  the  bee. 

Semonides  first  deals  with  the  class  of  women  of  the 
hog  variety:  "  God  made  the  mind  of  woman  in  the  be- 
ginning of  different  qualities;  for  one  he  fashioned  like  a 
bristly  hog,  in  whose  house  everything  tumbles  about  in 
disorder,  bespattered  with  mud,  and  rolls  upon  the  ground; 
she,  dirty,  with  unwashed  clothes,  sits  and  grows  fat  on  a 
dungheap." 

The  woman  like  mud  is  thus  satirized:  "  This  woman 
is  ignorant  of  everything,  both  good  and  bad;  her  only 
accomplishment  is  eating:  cold  though  the  winters  be,  she 
is  too  stupid  to  draw  near  the  fire." 

Here  is  the  poet's  picture  of  the  woman  who  resem- 
bles the  sea:  "  She  has  two  minds;  when  she  laughs 
and  is  glad,  the  stranger  seeing  her  at  home  will  give  her 
praise — there  is  nothing  better  than  this  on  the  earth, 
no,  nor  fairer;  but  another  day  she  is  unbearable,  not 
to  be  looked  at  or  approached,  for  she  is  raging  mad.  To 
friend  and  foe  she  is  alike  implacable  and  odious.  Thus, 
as  the  sea  is  often  calm  and  innocent,  a  great  delight 
to  sailors  in  summertime,  and  oftentimes  again  is  frantic, 


THE  LYRIC  AGE  IOI 

tearing  along  with  roaring  billows,  so  is  this  woman  in 
her  temper." 

The  woman  who  resembles  a  mare  offers  other  disa- 
greeable qualities:  She  is  "delicate  and  long-haired,  unfit 
for  drudgery  or  toil;  she  would  not  touch  the  mill,  or  lift 
the  sieve,  or  clean  the  house  out!  She  bathes  twice  or 
thrice  a  day,  and  anoints  herself  with  myrrh;  then  she 
wears  her  hair  combed  out  long  and  wavy,  dressed  with 
flowers.  It  follows  that  this  woman  is  a  rare  sight  to 
one's  guests;  but  to  her  husband  she  is  a  curse,  unless 
he  be  a  tyrant  who  prides  himself  on  such  expensive 
luxuries." 

The  ape-like  wife  is  perhaps  the  worst  of  the  lot:  "  This 
one,  above  all,  has  Zeus  given  as  the  greatest  evil  to  men. 
Her  face  is  most  hateful.  Such  a  woman  goes  through  the 
city  a  laughing-stock  to  all  the  men.  Short  of  neck,  with 
narrow  hips,  withered  of  limb,  she  moves  about  with  diffi- 
culty. O  wretched  man,  who  weds  such  a  woman!  She 
knows  every  cunning  art,  just  like  an  ape,  nor  is  ridicule 
a  concern  to  her.  To  no  one  would  she  do  a  kindness, 
but  every  day  she  schemes  to  this  end, — how  she  may 
work  some  one  the  greatest  injury." 

But  at  last  we  reach  the  bee:  "  The  man  who  gets  her 
is  lucky;  to  her  alone  belongs  no  censure;  one's  house- 
hold goods  thrive  and  increase  under  her  management; 
loving,  with  a  loving  spouse,  she  grows  old,  the  mother 
of  a  fair  and  famous  race.  She  is  preeminent  among  all 
women,  and  a  heavenly  grace  attends  her.  She  cares  not 
to  sit  among  the  women  when  they  indulge  in  lascivious 
chatter.  Such  wives  are  the  best  and  wisest  mates  Zeus 
grants  to  men." 

Only  one  woman  in  ten  has  been  found  in  some  measure 
desirable,  and  the  poet  concludes  with  a  lengthy  and  com- 
prehensive dunciad  of  the  female  sex,  the  gist  of  which  is 


102  WOMAN 

as  follows:  "  Zeus  made  this  supreme  evil — woman:  even 
though  she  seem  to  be  a  blessing,  when  a  man  has  wedded 
one  she  becomes  a  plague." 

How  much  truth  is  there  in  Semonides's  views  on  the 
women  of  his  time?  The  poet  agrees  with  Hesiod  in 
regarding  woman  as  a  necessary  evil.  Nine  women  out 
of  ten  he  finds  altogether  bad,  and  the  tenth  is  prized  only 
for  her  domestic  virtues.  Industrious,  quiet,  economical, 
the  mother  of  children,  she  is  merely  the  good  housewife, 
which  seems  to  have  been  the  primitive  ideal  of  the  perfect 
woman.  The  poem  treats  of  women  of  the  middle  class, 
and  is  important  in  showing  the  freedom  of  movement,  and 
appearance  in  public,  of  the  married  woman.  She  is  not 
shut  up  in  the  harem;  but  in  the  use  of  her  tongue,  and  in 
her  capacity  as  a  busybody,  there  seems  to  be  no  restraint 
upon  her.  Semonides's  range  of  vision  was  narrow,  and 
he  probably  knew  not  much  beyond  his  own  little  island, 
but  we  may  credit  him  with  expressing  the  prevalent 
views  of  the  honest  burghers  of  Amorgus. 

Phocylides  of  Miletus,  a  successor  of  Semonides  by 
rather  more  than  a  century,  composed  in  the  same  strain 
an  epigrammatic  satire  on  woman.  It  is  manifestly  an 
imitation  of  the  tirade  of  Semonides. 

"  The  tribe  of  women,"  says  he,  "  is  of  these  four 
kinds, — that  of  a  dog,  that  of  a  bee,  that  of  a  burly  sow, 
and  that  of  a  long-maned  mare.  This  last  is  manageable, 
quick,  fond  of  gadding  about,  fine  of  figure;  the  sow  kind 
is  neither  good  nor  bad;  that  of  the  dog  is  difficult  and 
snarling;  but  the  bee-like  woman  is  a  good  housekeeper, 
and  knows  how  to  work.  This  desirable  marriage,  pray 
to  obtain,  dear  friend." 

The  bitterest  of  all  the  observations  against  woman  by 
the  iambic  writers,  however,  is  that  of  Hipponax,  a  bril- 
liant satirist  of  the  sixth  century  before  Christ.  He  says: 


THE  LYRIC  AGE  103 

"  Two  happy  days  a  woman  brings  a  man:  the  first, 
when  he  marries  her;  the  second,  when  he  bears  her  to 
the  grave." 

Theognis  is  another  of  the  poets  of  Greece  who  took  a 
gloomy  view  of  life,  and  was  not  happy  in  his  matrimonial 
ties.  He  laments  that  marriages  in  his  native  town  of 
Megara  are  made  for  money,  and  avers  that  such  mar- 
riages are  the  bane  of  the  city.  Says  Theognis: 

"Rams  and  asses,  Cyrnus,  and  horses,  we  choose  of 
good  breed,  and  wish  them  to  have  good  pedigrees;  but  a 
noble  man  does  not  hesitate  to  wed  a  baseborn  girl  if  she 
bring  him  much  money;  nor  does  a  noble  woman  refuse 
to  be  the  wife  of  a  base  but  wealthy  man,  but  she  chooses 
the  rich  instead  of  the  noble.  For  they  honor  money; 
and  the  noble  weds  the  baseborn,  and  the  base  the  high- 
born; wealth  has  mixed  the  race.  So,  do  not  wonder, 
Polypaides,  that  the  race  of  the  citizens  deteriorates,  for 
the  bad  is  mixed  with  the  good." 

To  sum  up  this  cursory  survey  of  the  iambic  poets,  we 
find  that  in  their  period  woman  is  still  regarded  as  the 
determining  factor  of  man's  weal  or  woe,  but  that  there 
exists  in  the  sex  every  variety  of  woman  which  lack  of 
education  and,  especially,  lack  of  appreciation  can  pro- 
duce. Woman  is  prized  by  man  only  for  her  domestic 
virtues;  and  any  endeavor  she  may  make  to  step  beyond 
the  narrow  circle  of  the  home  is  resented  by  the  lords  of 
creation.  Man  looks  down  on  her  as  his  inferipr,  and  gives 
her  no  share  in  his  larger  life.  Among  the  aristocratic  the 
bane  of  wealth  has  entered,  and  marriages  of  convenience 
are  the  prevailing  custom. 

When  we  pass  from  the  iambic  to  the  elegiac  poets,  we 
begin  to  note  the  causes  why  wedded  life,  especially  among 
the  Ionian  Greeks,  does  not  present  the  beautiful  pictures 
of  domestic  bliss  and  conjugal  comradeship  so  attractive 


104  WOMAN 

in  heroic  times.  The  martial  elegists  show  how  woman 
could  still  inspire  man  to  deeds  of  valor,  but  the  erotic 
poets  give  us  glimpses  of  the  root  of  the  evil  that  was 
undermining  the  very  foundations  of  domestic  life.  The 
Greek  woman  did  not  develop  under  enlarged  conditions 
with  the  same  rapidity  as  the  Greek  man;  the  wife  was 
expected  to  be  merely  the  mother  of  her  husband's  chil- 
dren and  the  keeper  of  his  house;  for  companionship  and 
pleasure  he  looked  elsewhere.  The  free  woman,  or  the 
hetasra,  has  entered  upon  the  stage.  Poets  were  inspired 
by  love,  but  romantic  love  between  husband  and  wife  is 
being  replaced  by  the  love  of  the  beautiful  and  highly 
educated  "companion,"  or  the  natural  place  of  the  high- 
born woman  is  being  invaded  by  the  baser  passion  for 
"those  fair  and  stately  youths,  with  their  virgin  looks  and 
maiden  modesty" — two  classes  that  were  to  play  so  large 
a  role  in  society  in  the  greatest  days  of  Greece,  and  who 
were  to  bring  about  its  downfall. 

In  the  fragments  of  Alcman  are  many  allusions  to  his 
passion  for  his  sweetheart  Megalostrata;  and  many  of  the 
elegies  of  Mimnermus  are  said  to  have  been  addressed  to 
a  flute  player,  Nanno,  who,  according  to  one  account, 
did  not  return  his  passion.  The  following,  translated  by 
Symonds,  shows  the  intensity  of  his  love: 

"What's  life  or  pleasure  wanting  Aphrodite? 
When  to  the  gold-haired  goddess  cold  am  I, 
When  love  and  love's  soft  gifts  no  more  delight  me, 
Nor  stolen  dalliance,  then  I  fain  would  die ! 
Ah !  fair  and  lovely  bloom  the  flowers  of  youth ; 
On  man  and  maids  they  beautifully  smile : 
But  soon  comes  doleful  eld,  who,  void  of  ruth, 
Indifferently  afflicts  the  fair  and  vile. 
Then  cares  wear  out  the  heart ;  old  eyes  forlorn 
Scarce  serve  the  very  sunshine  to  behold — 
Unloved  of  youths,  of  every  maid  the  scorn — 
So  hard  a  lot  gods  lay  upon  the  old." 


THE  LYRIC  AGE  105 

Even  from  Solon  the  Sage,  maker  of  constitutions,  we 
possess  some  amorous  verses,  of  so  questionable  a  char- 
acter that  it  would  hardly  be  fitting  to  present  them  in  this 
volume.  They  are  ascribed  to  his  early  youth.  They 
afforded  much  comfort  to  the  libertines  of  antiquity,  who 
were  glad  to  be  able  to  cite  so  respectable  an  exemplar; 
but  the  good  people  were  scandalized  by  these  couplets. 

Ibycus  resembles  Sappho  in  the  intensity  of  his  passion 
and  in  his  conception  of  Eros  as  a  concrete  existence. 
"  Love  once  again  looking  upon  me  from  his  cloud-black 
brows,  with  languishing  glances  drives  me  by  enchant- 
ments of  all  kinds  to  the  endless  nets  of  Cypris.  Verily, 
I  tremble  at  his  onset  as  a  chariot  horse,  which  hath  won 
prizes,  in  old  age  goes  grudgingly  to  try  his  speed  in  the 
swift  race  of  cars." 

Anacreon,  to  English  readers  the  best  known  of  the 
erotic  poets  of  Greece,  had  as  his  mistress  the  golden- 
haired  Eurypyle.  He  was  very  susceptible  to  the  influ- 
ence of  love,  and,  owing  to  the  grace  and  sweetness  and 
ease  of  expression  in  his  verses,  has  won  an  enduring 
fame.  Many  of  his  verses  and  numerous  imitations  of  his 
poems  are  extant,  and  in  these  love  is  the  constant  theme. 

Stesichorus  was  the  composer  of  love  poems  with  a  plot, 
which  were  highly  popular  among  the  ladies  of  ancient 
days.  As  forerunners  of  the  Greek  Romance  they  pos- 
sess unique  literary  importance,  and  as  love  stories  of  an 
early  day  they  throw  much  light  on  the  status  and  ideals 
of  woman.  Aristoxenus  had  preserved  an  outline  of  the 
plot  of  the  Calyce:  "  The  maiden  Calyce  having  fallen 
madly  in  love  with  a  youth,  prays  to  Apollo  that  she  may 
become  his  lawful  wife;  and  when  he  continues  to  be 
indifferent  to  her,  she  commits  suicide."  Ancient  critics 
favorably  comment  on  the  purity  and  modesty  of  the 
maiden,  and  the  story  indicates  that  marriages  were  not 


106  WOMAN 

always  a  matter  of  arrangement,  that  love  at  times  deter- 
mined one's  choice,  and  that  to  the  ancient  highborn 
maiden  death  was  preferable  to  dishonor.  Another  of 
these  romantic  poems,  called  Rhadina,  tells  also  a  tale 
of  unhappy  love,  how  a  Samian  brother  and  sister  were 
put  to  death  by  a  cruel  tyrant  because  the  sister  resisted 
his  advances. 

Yet  we  cannot  hold  that  woman  had  in  this  period  uni- 
versally assumed  a  lower  status  than  that  accorded  her 
in  the  Homeric  poems.  Among  Ionian  peoples,  this  was 
doubtless  true;  but  among  ^Eolians  and  Dorians,  woman 
had  not  only  attained  a  greater  degree  of  freedom  than 
was  permitted  her  in  the  Heroic  Age,  but  had  also  shown 
herself  the  equal  of  man  in  literary  and  aesthetic  pursuits. 
In  this  transition  age,  the  name  of  one  woman — Sappho — 
presents  itself  as  the  bright  morning  star  in  the  history  of 
cultured  womanhood. 


17$ 


VI 

SAPPHO 

TOWARD  the  close  of  the  seventh  century  before  Christ, 
a  singular  phenomenon  presented  itself  in  the  history  of 
Greek  womanhood.  Heretofore  Greek  women  have  been 
beautiful;  they  have  been  fascinating;  they  have  exerted 
great  influence  on  the  course  of  events;  but  it  cannot  be 
said  that  they  have  been  intellectual.  At  the  time  men- 
tioned, there  occurred  an  unusual  movement  in  the  intel- 
lectual realm.  This  remarkable  movement  centres  about 
the  name  of  the  first  great  historical  woman  of  Greece 
— Lesbian  Sappho,  "the  Tenth  Muse."  In  the  history 
of  universal  woman,  Sappho  holds  a  position  altogether 
unique;  for  she  is  not  only  regarded  as  the  greatest  of 
lyric  poets,  but  she  was  also  the  founder  of  the  first 
woman's  club  of  which  we  have  any  record.  Sappho 
consecrated  herself  heart  and  soul  to  the  elevation  of  her 
sex.  As  poetry  and  art  constitute  the  natural  channels  for 
the  aesthetic  cultivation  of  woman,  she  trained  her  pupils 
to  be  poets  like  herself.  The  result  of  her  lifelong  devo- 
tion to  the  service  of  Aphrodite  and  the  Muses  was  that 
she  herself  not  only  achieved  an  immortal  reputation  as 
a  poet,  but  through  her  inspiring  influence  her  pupils 
carried  the  love  of  poetry  and  of  intellectual  and  artistic 
pursuits  back  to  their  distant  homes.  Hence,  it  is  not 

109 


1 10  WOMAN 

surprising  to  learn  that  from  this  time  there  were  to  be 
found  here  and  there  in  the  Greek  world  women  who  in 
intellectual  pursuits  were  the  peers  of  their  male  com- 
peers, and  that  there  should  be  found  among  women 
the  nine  terrestrial  Muses,  so  called  as  a  counterpart 
to  the  celestial  Nine. 

Sappho's  unique  greatness  is  best  appreciated  when  we 
consider  how  she  has  been  regarded  by  the  great  men  of 
antiquity  and  of  modern  times. 

Among  the  Greeks,  she  possessed  the  unique  renown 
of  being  called  "  The  Poetess,"  just  as  Homer  was  "  The 
Poet."  Solon,  hearing  one  of  her  poems,  prayed  that  he 
might  not  see  death  until  he  had  learned  it.  Plato  num- 
bered her  among  the  wise.  Aristotle  quotes  without 
reservation  a  judgment  that  placed  her  in  the  same  rank 
as  Homer  and  Archilochus.  Plutarch  likens  her  "to  the 
heart  of  a  volcano,"  and  says  that  the  grace  of  her  poems 
acted  on  her  listeners  like  an  enchantment,  and  that  when 
he  read  them  he  set  aside  the  drinking  cup  in  very  shame. 
Strabo  called  her  "a  wonderful  something,"  and  says 
that  "at  no  period  within  memory  has  any  woman  been 
known  who,  in  any  way,  even  the  least  degree,  could  be 
compared  to  her  for  poetry."  Demetrius  of  Phaleron 
adds  his  word  of  praise:  "Wherefore  Sappho  is  eloquent 
and  sweet  when  she  sings  of  beauty  and  of  love  and 
spring,  and  of  the  kingfisher;  and  every  beautiful  ex- 
pression is  woven  into  her  poetry  besides  what  she  herself 
invented." 

Writers  in  the  Greek  Anthology  continually  sing  her 
praises,  calling  her  "  the  Tenth  Muse,"  "  pride  of  Hellas," 
"comrade  of  Apollo,"  "child  of  Aphrodite  and  Eros," 
"nursling  of  the  Graces  and  Persuasion."  Nor  have 
modern  critics  been  less  restrained  in  their  praises,  not- 
withstanding the  fact  that  they  possess  merely  a  handful 


SAPPHO  III 

of  fragments  by  which  to  judge  "  The  Poetess."  Addison, 
for  example,  says:  "Among  the  mutilated  poets  of  an- 
tiquity there  is  none  whose  fragments  are  so  beautiful  as 
those  of  Sappho."  John  Addington  Symonds  is  even  more 
enthusiastic.  "  The  world  has  suffered  no  greater  literary 
loss,"  says  he,  "than  the  loss  of  Sappho's  poems.  So 
perfect  are  the  smallest  fragments  preserved,  that  we 
muse  in  a  sad  rapture  of  astonishment  to  think  what  the 
complete  poems  must  have  been."  And  Swinburne,  her 
best  modern  interpreter,  calls  Sappho  "the  unapproach- 
able poetess,"  and  says:  "Her  remaining  verses  are  the 
supreme  success,  the  final  achievement,  of  the  poetic  art." 
Sappho  was  at  the  zenith  of  her  fame  about  the  begin- 
ning of  the  sixth  century  before  the  Christian  era.  Her 
home  was  at  Mytilene,  on  the  island  of  Lesbos.  The 
lapse  of  twenty-five  centuries  has  left  us  few  authentic 
records  of  her  life.  There  is  a  tradition  that  she  was  born 
at  Eresus,  on  the  island  of  Lesbos,  and  later  established 
herself  in  the  capital  city,  Mytilene.  She  was  of  a  wealthy 
and  aristocratic  family.  Herodotus  says  that  she  was  the 
daughter  of  Scamandronymus,  and  Suidas  states  that  her 
mother's  name  was  Cleis,  that  she  was  the  wife  of  a  rich 
citizen  of  Andros,  Cercylas  or  Cercolas  by  name,  and 
that  she  had  a  daughter  named  after  her  grandmother, 
Cleis.  Sappho  refers  to  a  daughter  by  this  name  in  one 
of  the  extant  fragments,  but  none  of  these  other  state- 
ments are  corroborated.  She  had  two  brothers,  Larichus, 
a  public  cupbearer  at  Mytilene, — an  office  reserved  for 
noble  youths, — and  Charaxus,  a  wine  merchant,  of  whom 
we  shall  speak  more  fully  later.  From  one  source  we  learn 
that  she  went  into  exile  to  Sicily  along  with  other  aristo- 
crats of  Lesbos,  but  the  date  is  a  matter  of  conjecture. 
Pittacus  was  tyrant  of  Mytilene  at  this  time,  and  Sappho 
probably  returned  to  Lesbos  at  the  time  when  he  granted 


112  WOMAN 

amnesty  to  political  exiles.  How  long  she  lived  we  can- 
not tell,  while  how  and  when  she  died  are  also  unknown. 
Judging  from  the  allusions  of  the  writers  in  the  Anthology, 
her  tomb,  erected  in  the  city  of  her  adoption,  was  for 
centuries  afterward  regularly  visited  by  her  votaries. 

These  are  the  few  facts  we  can  positively  state  regard- 
ing the  life  of  Sappho;  but  myth  and  legend  have  supplied 
what  was  lacking,  and  those  scandalmongers,  the  Greek 
comic  poets,  have  woven  all  sorts  of  stories  about  her 
manner  of  life.  These  stories  centre  chiefly  about  the 
names  of  three  men, — Alcaeus  and  Anacreon,  the  poets, 
and  Phaon,  the  mythical  boatman  of  Mytilene,  endowed 
by  Aphrodite  with  extraordinary  and  irresistible  beauty. 

Alcasus,  the  poet  of  love  and  wine  and  war,  was  a 
native  of  Mytilene,  and  a  contemporary  of  Sappho,  and 
the  two  poets  no  doubt  knew  each  other  well.  The  comic 
poets  made  them  lovers.  There  is  still  extant  the  opening 
of  a  poem  which  Alcasus  addressed  to  Sappho: 

"Violet-crowned,  chaste,  sweet-smiling  Sappho, 
I  fain  would  speak ;  but  bashfulness  forbids." 

To  which  she  replied: 

"  Had  thy  wish  been  pure  and  manly, 
And  no  evil  on  thy  tongue, 
Shame  had  not  possessed  thine  eyelids ; 
From  thy  lips  the  right  had  rung." 

Anacreon,  the  lyric  poet,  was  also  represented  as  a  lover 
of  Sappho;  and  two  poems  are  preserved,  one  of  which  he 
is  said  to  have  addressed  to  her,  while  the  other  is  said  to 
be  her  reply.  But  there  is  no  doubt  whatever  that  Anac- 
reon flourished  at  least  a  generation  after  Sappho,  so  that 
the  two  could  never  have  met.  It  seems  to  have  been 
one  of  the  stock  motifs  of  the  comic  poets  to  represent 


SAPPHO  113 

Greek  lyrists  as  being  lovers  of  the  Lesbian;  thus  Diph- 
ilus,  in  his  Sappho,  pictured  Archilochus  and  Hipponax,  her 
predecessors  by  a  generation,  as  her  lovers. 

The  story  of  Sappho's  love  for  Phaon  and  her  leap  from 
the  Leucadian  rock  in  consequence  of  his  disdaining  her, 
though  it  has  been  so  long  implicitly  believed,  rests  on  no 
historical  basis.  The  perpetuation  of  the  story  is  due 
chiefly  to  Ovid,  who,  in  his  epistle,  Sappho  to  Phaon,  tells 
of  her  unquenchable  love  and  of  her  determination  to 
attempt  the  leap.  The  story  is  best  told  by  Addison: 

"Sappho,  the  Lesbian,  in  love  with  Phaon,  arrived  at 
the  temple  of  Apollo,  habited  like  a  bride,  in  garments 
white  as  snow.  She  wore  a  garland  of  myrtle  on  her 
head,  and  carried  in  her  hand  the  little  musical  instrument 
of  her  own  invention.  After  having  sung  a  hymn  to 
Apollo,  she  hung  up  her  garland  on  one  side  of  his  altar, 
and  her  harp  on  the  other.  She  then  tucked  up  her  vest- 
ments, like  a  Spartan  virgin,  and  amidst  thousands  of 
spectators,  who  were  anxious  for  her  safety  and  offered 
up  vows  for  her  deliverance,  marched  directly  forward  to 
the  utmost  summit  of  the  promontory,  where,  after  having 
repeated  a  stanza  of  her  own  verses,  she  threw  herself  off 
the  rock  with  such  an  intrepidity  as  was  never  observed 
before  in  any  who  had  attempted  that  leap.  Many  who 
were  present  related  that  they  saw  her  fall  into  the  sea, 
from  whence  she  never  rose  again;  though  there  were 
others  who  affirmed  that  she  never  came  to  the  bottom 
of  her  leap,  but  that  she  was  changed  to  a  swan  as  she 
fell,  and  that  they  saw  her  hovering  in  the  air  under  that 
shape.  But  whether  or  not  the  whiteness  and  fluttering 
of  her  garments  might  not  deceive  those  who  looked  upon 
her,  or  whether  she  might  not  really  be  metamorphosed 
into  that  musical  and  melancholy  bird,  is  still  a  doubt 
among  the  Lesbians." 


114  WOMAN 

Modern  critics  justly  set  aside  the  whole  story  as  fabu- 
lous, explaining  it  as  derived  from  the  myth  of  Aphrodite 
and  Adonis,  who  in  the  Greek  version  was  called  Phaethon 
or  Phaon.  The  leap  from  the  Leucadian  rock — the  prom- 
ontory of  Santa  Maura,  or  Leucate,  in  Sicily,  known  to  this 
day  as  "Sappho's  Leap" — was  used  by  other  poets, 
notably  Stesichorus  and  Anacreon,  as  a  metaphorical  ex- 
pression to  denote  complete  despair,  and  Sappho  herself 
may  have  used  it  in  this  sense.  The  legend  did  not  con- 
nect itself  with  Sappho  until  two  centuries  after  her  death, 
and  then  only  in  the  comic  poets;  hence  it  can  have  no 
basis  in  fact.  The  tradition  of  Sappho's  JEolian  grave, 
preserved  in  the  Anthology,  indicates  strongly  that  she 
died  a  peaceful  death  on  her  own  island.  "  Sappho,"  says 
Edwin  Arnold,  "  loved,  and  loved  more  than  once,  to  the 
point  of  desperate  sorrow;  though  it  did  not  come  to 
the  mad  and  fatal  leap  from  Leucate,  as  the  unnecessary 
legend  pretends.  There  are,  nevertheless,  worse  steeps 
than  Leucate  down  which  the  heart  may  fall;  and  colder 
seas  of  despair  than  the  Adriatic  in  which  to  engulf  it." 

The  whole  story  of  her  love  for  Phaon  is  an  instance  of 
how  her  name  was  maligned  by  the  comic  poets  of  the 
later  Attic  school.  It  was  impossible  for  the  Athenians, 
who  kept  their  women  in  seclusion,  to  understand  how  a 
woman  could  enjoy  the  freedom  of  life  and  movement  that 
Sappho  enjoyed  and  yet  remain  chaste.  Consequently, 
she  became  a  sort  of  stock  character  of  the  licentious 
drama,  and  even  modern  writers  have  used  her  name  as 
the  synonym  for  the  brilliant,  beautiful,  but  licentious 
woman.  As  says  Daudet,  who  of  all  recent  writers  has 
done  most  to  degrade  the  name:  "  The  word  Sappho  itself, 
by  the  force  of  rolling  descent  through  ages,  is  encrusted 
with  unclean  legends,  and  has  degenerated  from  the  name 
of  a  goddess  to  that  of  a  malady."  The  Greek  comic 


SAPPHO  1 1 5 

poets  invented  the  misrepresentation;  the  early  Chris- 
tian writers  accepted  it,  and  exaggerated  it  in  their  tirades 
against  heathenism;  and  thus  the  tradition  that  Sappho 
was  a  woman  of  low  moral  character  became  fixed. 

Only  in  the  present  century  have  the  ancient  calumnies 
against  Sappho  been  seriously  investigated.  A  German 
scholar,  Friedrich  Gottlieb  Welcker,  was  the  first  to  show 
that  they  were  based  on  altogether  insufficient  evidence. 
Colonel  Mure,  with  great  lack  of  gallantry,  endeavored, 
without  success,  to  expose  fallacies  in  Welcker's  argu- 
ments. Professor  Comparetti  has  more  recently  gone 
laboriously  over  the  whole  ground,  and  his  work  substan- 
tiates in  the  main  the  conclusions  of  Welcker.  The  whole 
tendency  of  modern  scholarship  is  to  vindicate  the  name 
of  Sappho. 

We  cannot  claim  that  Sappho  was  a  woman  of  austere 
virtue;  but  she  was  one  of  the  best  of  her  race,  and  there 
is  no  trace  of  wantonness  in  any  stanza  of  hers  preserved 
to  us.  She  repulsed  Alcaeus  when  he  made  improper 
advances,  while  a  recently  discovered  papyrus  fragment 
shows  how  keenly  she  felt  a  brother's  disgrace,  and  this 
aversion  to  the  dishonorable  would  hardly  have  existed 
had  her  own  life  been  open  to  censure. 

Sappho's  brother  Charaxus,  who  was  a  Lesbian  wine 
merchant,  fell  violently  in  love  with  the  famous  courtesan 
Rhodopis,  then  a  slave  in  Naucratis,  and  subsequently  the 
most  noted  beauty  of  her  day.  He  ransomed  her  from 
slavery,  devoted  himself  exclusively  to  her  whims,  and 
squandered  all  his  substance  upon  her  maintenance.  Sap- 
pho was  violently  incensed  at  his  conduct,  and  resorted 
to  verse  for  the  expression  of  her  anger  and  humiliation. 
According  to  the  story  in  Ovid,  Charaxus  was  fiercely 
provoked  by  her  ill  treatment  of  him,  and  would  listen  to 
no  attempts  at  reconciliation  made  by  his  poet-sister  after 


1 1 6  WOMAN 

her  anger  had  cooled,  though  she  reproached  herself  for 
the  estrangement  and  did  all  she  could  to  win  him  back. 

A  twenty-line  fragment  of  a  poem,  found  a  few  years 
ago  among  the  Oxyrhynchus  papyri,  in  a  reference  to 
the  poet's  brother,  in  its  tone  of  reproach,  in  its  expres- 
sion of  a  desire  for  reconciliation,  in  dialect  and  in  metre, 
indicates  its  origin  as  a  part  of  an  ode  addressed  by 
Sappho  to  her  brother  Charaxus.  It  is  conceived  by  its 
editors  and  translators  to  be  one  of  her  vain  appeals  that 
he  would  forget  the  past: 

"Sweet  Nereids,  grant  to  me 
That  home  unscathed  my  brother  may  return, 
And  every  end  for  which  his  soul  shall  yearn, 
Accomplished  see  1 

"And  thou,  immortal  Queen, 
Blot  out  the  past,  that  thus  his  friends  may  know 
Joy,  shame  his  foes — nay,  rather,  let  no  foe 
By  us  be  seen  1 

"  And  may  he  have  the  will 
To  me  his  sister  some  regard  to  show, 
To  assuage  the  pain  he  brought,  whose  cruel  blow 
My  soul  did  kill, 

"  Yea,  mine,  for  that  ill  name 
Whose  biting  edge,  to  shun  the  festal  throng 
Compelling,  ceased  a  while ;  yet  back  ere  long 
To  goad  us  came!" 

Was  Sappho's  beauty  a  myth?  Greek  standards  of 
feminine  beauty  included  height  and  stateliness.  Homer 
celebrates  the  characteristic  beauty  of  Lesbian  women  in 
speaking  of  seven  Lesbian  captives  whom  Agamemnon 
offered  to  Achilles,  "surpassing  womankind  in  beauty." 
Plato,  in  the  Phcedrus,  calls  Sappho  "beautiful,"  but  he 
was  probably  referring  to  the  sweetness  of  her  songs. 
Democharis,  in  the  Anthology,  in  an  epigram  on  a  statue 


SAPPHO  117 

of  Sappho,  speaks  of  her  bright  eyes  and  compares  her 
beauty  with  that  of  Aphrodite.  According  to  Maximus 
of  Tyre,  who  preserves  the  traditions  of  the  comic  poets, 
she  was  "small  and  dark,"  a  phrase  immortalized  by 
Swinburne: 

"The  small  dark  body's  Lesbian  loveliness, 
That  held  the  fire  eternal." 

The  problem,  therefore,  is  whether  she  conformed  to 
the  Greek  ideal  of  beauty  or  was  small  and  dark.  Our 
only  evidence  in  this  matter  is  that  furnished  by  art.  The 
portrait  of  Sappho  is  preserved  on  coins  of  Mytilene,  which 
present  a  face  exquisite  in  contour.  A  fifth  century  vase, 
preserved  in  Munich,  gives  us  representations  of  Alcasus 
and  Sappho,  in  which  Sappho  is  taller  than  Alcseus,  of 
imposing  figure  and  exceedingly  beautiful.  She  was  fre- 
quently portrayed  in  plastic  art.  According  to  Cicero,  a 
bronze  statue  of  Sappho,  made  by  Silanion,  stood  in  the 
prytaneum  at  Syracuse,  and  was  stolen  by  Verres.  In 
the  fifth  century  of  our  era,  there  was  a  statue  of  her 
in  the  gymnasium  of  Zeuxippus,  in  Byzantium.  The 
Vatican  bust  is  that  of  a  woman  with  Greek  features, 
but,  of  course,  lends  no  corroborating  testimony  as  to  her 
size  and  complexion. 

Alma-Tadema  has  fixed  the  current  tradition  in  his 
ideal  representation  of  Sappho's  school  at  Lesbos — a  mar- 
ble exedra  on  the  seashore  at  Mytilene.  The  poetess  is 
seated  on  the  front  row  of  seats,  with  her  favorite  pupil, 
Erinna,  standing  by  her  side.  Her  chin  rests  on  her  hands 
as  she  leans  forward  against  the  desk,  listening  intently  as 
Alcaeus  plays  the  lyre.  She  is  small,  dark,  beautiful,  in- 
tense; and  the  artist  has  "subtly  caught  the  prophetic  light 
of  her  soul,  her  eager  intellect,  her  unconscious  grace,  and 
the  slumbering  passion  in  her  eloquent  eyes." 


Il8  WOMAN 

Let  us  now  consider  the  conditions  under  which  Sap- 
pho's genius  blossomed  to  fruition. 

There  is  a  legend  that  after  the  Thracian  women's 
murder  of  Orpheus,  the  mythical  singer  of  Hellas,  his  head 
and  his  lyre  were  thrown  into  the  sea  and  were  wafted 
upon  its  waves  to  the  island  of  Lesbos.  This  legend  is  an 
allegory  of  the  island's  supremacy  in  song,  and  of  the 
unbroken  continuity  of  lyric  poetry  from  its  budding  in 
prehistoric  times  up  to  its  full  flower  among  the  Lesbian 
poets  of  the  sixth  century  before  the  Christian  era.  Every 
condition  existed  in  Lesbos  for  the  fostering  of  the  love  of 
beauty  and  the  cultivation  of  all  the  refinements  of  life. 
The  land  itself  presented  mountain  and  coast,  hill  and 
dale,  in  pleasing  and  harmonious  variety,  while  about  it 
billowed  a  brilliant  sapphire  sea.  The  island  was  re- 
nowned for  the  salubrity  of  its  climate,  the  purity  of  its 
atmosphere,  and  the  transparency  of  its  skies.  Its  in- 
habitants, owing  to  the  variety  of  the  products  of  the  soil 
and  their  attention  to  commerce,  enjoyed  unbounded  pros- 
perity. They  gave  themselves  up  to  the  enjoyments  of 
life,  and  cultivated  everything  that  contributed  to  luxury, 
elegance,  and  material  well-being.  The  men  devoted  their 
energies  to  politics  and  war  and  the  pursuits  of  pleasure. 
The  women,  who  were  remarkable  for  their  beauty  and 
grace,  enjoyed  a  freedom  and  rank  accorded  them  nowhere 
else  in  Greece.  Symonds  thus  vividly  describes  the  free 
and  artistic  life  of  ^Eolian  women: 

"  >Eolian  women  were  not  confined  to  the  harem,  like 
lonians,  or  subjected  to  the  rigorous  discipline  of  the  Spar- 
tans. While  mixing  freely  with  male  society,  they  were 
highly  educated,  and  accustomed  to  express  their  senti- 
ments to  an  extent  unknown  elsewhere  in  history — until, 
indeed,  the  present  time.  The  Lesbian  ladies  applied 
themselves  successfully  to  literature.  They  formed  clubs 


SAPPHO  119 

for  the  cultivation  of  poetry  and  music.  They  studied  the 
art  of  beauty,  and  sought  to  refine  metrical  form  and  dic- 
tion. Nor  did  they  confine  themselves  to  the  scientific 
side  of  art.  Unrestrained  by  public  opinion,  and  avid  for 
the  beautiful,  they  cultivated  their  senses  and  emotions, 
and  developed  their  wildest  passions.  All  the  luxuries  and 
elegancies  of  life  which  the  climate  and  the  rich  valleys 
of  Lesbos  could  afford  were  at  their  disposal;  exquisite 
gardens  in  which  the  rose  and  hyacinth  spread  perfume; 
river  beds  ablaze  with  the  oleander  and  wild  pomegranate; 
olive  groves  and  fountains,  where  the  cyclamen  and  violet 
flowered  with  feathery  maiden-hair;  pine-shadowed  coves, 
where  they  might  bathe  in  the  calm  of  a  tideless  sea;  fruits 
such  as  only  the  southern  sea  and  sea  wind  can  mature; 
marble  cliffs,  starred  with  jonquil  and  anemone  in  spring, 
aromatic  with  myrtle  and  lentisk  and  samphire  and  wild 
rosemary  through  all  the  months;  nightingales  that  sang  in 
May;  temples  dim  with  dusky  gold  and  bright  with  ivory; 
statues  and  frescoes  of  heroic  forms.  In  such  scenes  as 
these,  the  Lesbian  poets  lived  and  thought  of  love.  When 
we  read  their  poems,  we  seem  to  have  the  perfumes, 
colors,  sounds,  and  lights  of  that  luxurious  land  distilled 
in  verse." 
Amid  such  surroundings,  burning  Sappho  sang: 

"  Songs  that  move  the  heart  of  the  shaken  heaven, 
Songs  that  break  the  heart  of  the  earth  with  pity, 
Hearing,  to  hear  them." 

The  complete  works  of  Sappho  must  have  been  con- 
siderable. She  was  the  greatest  erotic  poet  of  antiquity, 
the  chief  composer  of  epithalamia,  or  wedding  songs,  the 
writer  of  epigrams  and  elegies,  invocatory  hymns,  iambics, 
and  monodies.  Nine  books  of  her  lyric  odes  existed  in 
ancient  times,  and  were  known  to  Horace,  who  frequently 


120  WOMAN 

imitated  her  style  and  metre,  and  who  doubtless  at  times 
in  his  odes  directly  translated  her  poems.  But  of  all  this  we 
have  only  two  poems  which  may  be  said  to  be  in  any  way 
complete:  a  considerable  portion  of  the  ode  to  her  brother 
Charaxus,  already  quoted,  and  somewhat  over  a  hundred 
and  fifty  fragments,  the  total  comprising  not  more  than 
three  hundred  lines.  Within  the  last  few  months,  Doctor 
Schubart,  of  the  Egyptian  Section  of  the  Royal  Museum 
in  Berlin,  has  discovered  in  papyri,  recently  added  to  its 
collection,  several  hitherto  unknown  poems  of  Sappho. 

"Few,  indeed,  but  those  roses,"  as  says  Meleager,  in 
the  Anthology,  are  the  precious  verses  spared  to  us  in  spite 
of  the  unholy  zeal  of  antipaganism.  And,  strange  to  re- 
late, we  are  indebted  for  what  we  have  to  the  quotations 
of  grammarians  and  lexicographers,  who  preserved  the 
verses,  not  usually  for  their  poetic  beauty,  but  to  illus- 
trate a  point  in  syntax  or  metre.  But,  though  so  few 
and  fragmentary,  they  are,  as  Professor  Palgrave  says, 
"grains  of  golden  sand  which  the  torrent  of  Time  has 
carried  down  to  us." 

Sappho  wrote  in  the  yEolic  dialect,  noted  for  the  soft 
quality  of  its  vowel  sounds;  and  her  poems  were  un- 
doubtedly written  for  recitation  to  the  accompaniment  of 
the  lyre,  being  the  earliest  specimens  of  the  song  or 
ballad  so  popular  in  modern  times. 

Predecessors  of  the  melic  poetry  of  Sappho  are  to  be 
found  in  the  chants  and  hymns  in  honor  of  Apollo  preva- 
lent throughout  Greece,  in  the  popular  songs  of  Hellas, 
and  in  the  songs  sung  in  the  home  and  at  religious  festi- 
vals by  Lesbian  men  and  women, — children's  rhymes, 
songs  at  vintage  festivals,  plaints  of  shepherds  expressive 
of  rustic  love,  epithalamia  or  bridal  songs,  dirges,  threno- 
dies and  laments  for  Adonis,  typifying  the  passing  of 
spring  and  summer. 


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SAPPHO  121 

The  form  and  melody  of  Sappho's  poems  are  due  to  the 
fact  that  they  were  to  accompany  vocal  and  instrumental 
music,  which,  thanks  to  the  innovations  of  Terpander 
of  Lesbos,  was  at  that  time  exquisitely  adapted  to  the 
purposes  of  the  lyric.  Terpander  introduced  the  seven- 
stringed  lyre,  or  cithara,  with  its  compass  of  a  diapason,  or 
Greek  octave,  and  this  became  the  peculiar  instrument 
of  Sappho  and  her  school.  The  choice  of  the  musical 
measure  determined  the  tone  of  the  poem.  Terpander 
united  the  music  of  Asia  Minor  with  that  of  Greece  proper, 
and  the  resulting  product  uf  /Eolian  poetry  was  the  union 
of  Oriental  voluptuousness  with  Greek  self-restraint  and 
art.  Of  Sappho's  numerous  songs,  two  odes  alone  are 
presented  to  us  in  anything  like  their  entirety,  one  dedi- 
cated to  the  service  of  Aphrodite,  and  the  other  composed 
in  honor  of  a  girl  friend,  Anactoria.  Dionysius  of  Hali- 
carnassus  embodies  the  first  in  one  of  his  rhetorical  works, 
as  a  perfect  illustration  of  the  elaborately  finished  style 
of  poetry,  and  comments  on  the  fact  that  its  grace  and 
beauty  lie  in  the  subtle  harmony  between  the  words 
and  the  ideas.  Edwin  Arnold  renders  it  as  follows: 

"  Splendor-throned  Queen,  immortal  Aphrodite, 
Daughter  of  Jove,  Enchantress,  I  implore  thee 
Vex  not  my  soul  with  agonies  and  anguish ; 

Slay  me  not,  Goddess ! 

Come  in  thy  pity — come,  if  I  have  prayed  thee ; 
Come  at  the  cry  of  my  sorrow ;  in  the  old  times 
Oft  thou  hast  heard,  and  left  thy  father's  heaven, 

Left  the  gold  houses, 

Yoking  thy  chariot.    Swiftly  did  the  doves  fly, 
Swiftly  they  brought  thee,  waving  plumes  of  wonder- 
Waving  their  dark  plumes  all  across  the  aether, 

All  down  the  azure. 

Very  soon  they  lighted.  Then  didst  thou,  Divine  one, 
Laugh  a  bright  laugh  from  lips  and  eyes  immortal, 
Ask  me,  '  What  ailed  me— wherefore  out  of  heaven, 

Thus  I  had  called  thee  ? 


122  WOMAN 

What  was  it  made  me  madden  in  my  heart  so?' 
Question  me  smiling — say  to  me,  '  My  Sappho, 
Who  is  it  wrongs  thee  ?  Tell  me  who  refuses 

Thee,  vainly  sighing. 

Be  it  who  it  may  be,  he  that  flies  shall  follow ; 
He  that  rejects  gifts,  he  shall  bring  thee  many ; 
He  that  hates  now  shall  love  thee  dearly,  madly — 

Aye,  though  thou  wouldst  not.' 
So  once  again  come,  Mistress ;  and,  releasing 
Me  from  my  sadness,  give  me  what  I  sue  for, 
Grant  me  my  prayer,  and  be  as  heretofore  now 

Friend  and  protectress." 

The  ode  to  Anactoria  is  quoted,  by  the  author  of  the 
treatise  on  The  Sublime  as  an  illustration  of  the  perfection 
of  the  sublime  in  poetry.  John  Addington  Symonds  thus 
renders  it  in  English: 

"  Peer  of  gods  he  seemeth  to  me,  the  blissful 
Man  who  sits  and  gazes  at  thee  before  him, 
Close  beside  thee  sits,  and  in  silence  hears  thee 

Silverly  speaking, 

Laughing  love's  low  laughter.    Oh  this,  this  only 
Stirs  the  troubled  heart  in  my  breast  to  tremble  1 
For  should  I  but  see  thee  a  little  moment, 

Straight  is  my  voice  hushed ; 

Yea,  my  tongue  is  broken,  and  through  and  through  me 
'Neath  the  flesh  impalpable  fire  runs  tingling; 
Nothing  see  mine  eyes,  and  a  noise  of  roaring 

Waves  in  my  ear  sounds ; 
Sweat  runs  down  in  rivers,  a  tremor  seizes 
All  my  limbs,  and  paler  than  grass  in  autumn, 
Caught  by  pains  of  menacing  death,  1  falter, 

Lost  in  the  love-trance." 

Epithalamia,  or  wedding  songs,  were  the  most  numerous 
of  all  Sappho's  works,  and  in  them  she  attained  an  excel- 
lence unequalled  by  any  other  poet.  Catullus,  in  despair, 
seems  to  have  been  content  with  adapting  in  his  marriage 
odes  well-known  songs  of  Sappho.  The  poet  seems  to 
have  described  all  the  stages  in  the  ceremony — the  Greek 


SAPPHO  123 

maidens  leading  the  pale  bride  to  the  expectant  bride- 
groom, chanting  their  simple  chorus  to  Hymen,  the  god 
of  marriage.  At  one  time,  they  sing  the  approach  of  the 
bridegroom: 

"  Raise  high  the  roof -beam,  carpenters, 
Hymenaus ! 
Like  Ares  comes  the  bridegroom, 

Hymenaeus ! 
Taller  far  than  a  tall  man, 

Hymenasus!" 

But  their  thoughts  are  all  for  the  rejoicing  bride,  who 
blushes  "  as  sweet  as  the  apple  on  the  end  of  the  bough." 

"  O  fair— O  sweet ! 

As  the  sweet  apple  blooms  high  on  the  bough, 
High  as  the  highest,  forgot  of  the  gatherers : 

So  thou : — 

Yet  not  so:  nor  forgot  of  the  gatherers ; 
High  o'er  their  reach  in  the  golden  air, 

O  sweet — O  fair ! " 

We  shall  arrange  the  briefer  fragments  according  to 
subject,  not  according  to  metre,  in  order  that  through 
them  we  may  gain  a  clear  conception  of  Sappho's  attitude 
toward  life  and  nature,  that  we  may  know  the  poetess  in 
her  love  and  friendship,  her  longings  and  her  sorrows,  her 
sensibility  to  the  influences  of  nature  and  art. 

Her  conception  of  love  has  been  already  noticed  in  the 
longer  poems  just  quoted.  A  number  of  the  fragments 
indicate  a  similar  intensity  of  emotion.  Thus  she  says: 

"  Lo,  Love  once  more,  the  limb-dissolving  king, 
The  bitter-sweet,  impracticable  thing, 
Wild-beast-like  rends  me  with  fierce  quivering." 


In  another: 


"  Lo,  Love  once  more  my  soul  within  me  rends 
Like  wind  that  on  the  mountain  oak  descends." 


124  WOMAN 

A  being  so  intense  as  Sappho,  with  sensibilities  so 
refined  and  intuitions  so  keen,  naturally  possessed  an 
ardent  love  of  nature.  Her  power  of  expressing  its  charm 
is  shown  in  a  number  of  fragments.  Every  aspect  of 
nature  seems  to  have  appealed  to  her. 

Of  the  morning  she  says: 

"  Early  uprose  the  golden-sandalled  Dawn." 
And  of  the  evening: 

"  Evening,  all  things  thou  bringest 
Which  Dawn  spreads  apart  from  each  other ; 
The  lamb  and  the  kid  thou  bringest, 
Thou  bringest  the  boy  to  his  mother." 

And  of  the  night: 

"And  dark-eyed  Sleep,  child  of  Night." 
She  sings  to  us  also  of  the 

"  Rainbow,  shot  with  a  thousand  hues." 
And  of  the  stars: 

"  Stars  that  shine  around  the  refulgent  full  moon 
Pale,  and  hide  their  glory  of  lesser  lustre 
When  she  pours  her  silvery  plenilunar 
Light  on  the  orbed  earth." 

And  again  of  the  moon  and  the  Pleiades: 

"The  moon  has  left  the  sky ; 
Lost  is  the  Pleiads'  light ; 

It  is  midnight 

And  time  slips  by ; 
But  on  my  couch  alone  I  lie." 

Trees  and  flowers  and  plants  appeal  to  her  as  if  they 
were  endowed  with  life,  and  by  her  mention  of  them  she 
calls  up  to  the  imagination  a  tropical  summer  with  its 


SAPPHO  125 

attendant  recreations.  Thus  she  sings  of  the  breeze  mur- 
muring cool  through  the  apple  boughs: 

"  From  the  sound  of  cool  waters  heard  through  the  green  boughs 
Of  the  fruit-bearing  trees, 
And  the  rustling  breeze, 
Deep  sleep,  as  a  trance,  down  over  me  flows." 

Sappho  loves  flowers  with  a  personal  sympathy.  She 
feels  for  the  hyacinth: 

"  As  when  the  shepherds  on  the  hills 
Tread  under  foot  the  hyacinth, 
And  on  the  ground  the  purple  flower  lies  crushed." 

She  sings  also  of  the  golden  pulse  that  grows  on  the 
shores,  and  of  the  pure,  soft  bloom  of  the  grass  trampled 
under  foot  by  the  Cretan  women  as  they  dance  round  the 
fair  altar  of  Aphrodite.  The  rose  seems  to  have  been  her 
favorite  flower,  for,  says  Philostratus,  "  Sappho  loves  the 
rose,  and  always  crowns  it  with  some  praise,  likening 
beautiful  maidens  to  it." 

The  birds,  too,  found  in  her  a  most  sympathetic  friend. 
Her  ear  is  open  to: 

"Spring's  messenger,  the  sweet-voiced  nightingale," 

and  she  pities  the  wood-doves  as  "their  heart  turns  cold 
and  their  wings  fall,"  under  the  stroke  from  the  arrow  of 
the  archer. 

Sappho's  love  for  nature  is  only  surpassed  by  her 
love  for  art,  for  splendor  and  festivity,  as  they  appeal 
to  the  aesthetic  nature.  She  loves  her  lyre,  the  song  and 
the  dance,  garlands,  purple  robes,  and  all  that  attended  the 
worship  of  Aphrodite  and  the  Muses.  Her  lyre  she  thus 
addresses: 

"  Come,  then,  my  lyre  divine ! 
Let  speech  be  thine." 


126  WOMAN 

And  to  Aphrodite  she  utters  this  appeal: 

"  Come,  Queen  of  Cyprus,  pour  the  stream 
Of  nectar,  mingled  lusciously 
With  merriment,  in  cups  of  gold." 

She  also  calls  about  her  the  Muses  and  the  Graces: 

"  Hither  come,  ye  dainty  Graces 

And  ye  fair-haired  Muses  now  1" 
And  again: 

"  Come,  rosy-armed,  chaste  Graces  1  come, 

Daughter  of  Jove." 
And  yet  again: 

"  Hither,  hither  come,  ye  Muses  I 
Leave  the  golden  sky." 

In  the  worship  of  Aphrodite  and  the  Graces,  garlands 
are  appropriate  for  the  devotees: 

"  Of  foliage  and  flowers  love-laden 
Twine  wreaths  for  thy  flowing  hair 
With  thine  own  soft  fingers,  maiden, 
Weave  garlands  of  parsley  fair ; 

"  For  flowers  are  sweet,  and  the  Graces 
On  suppliants  wreathed  with  may 
Look  down  from  their  heavenly  places, 
But  turn  from  the  crownless  away." 

Such  was  the  joy  of  the  devotees  of  the  Muses.  Sappho 
believed  in  the  adornment  of  the  soul  as  well  as  of  the 
body,  and  she  thus  addresses  one  who  neglected  the  ser- 
vices of  the  Muses: 

"  Yea,  thou  shalt  die, 
And  lie 

Dumb  in  the  silent  tomb ; 
Nor  of  thy  name 
Shall  there  be  any  fame 
In  ages  yet  to  be  or  years  to  come ; 
For  of  the  flowering  Rose, 
Which  on  Pieria  blows, 


SAPPHO  127 

Thou  hast  no  share : 

But  in  sad  Hades'  house 

Unknown,  inglorious 

'Mid  the  dark  shades  that  wander  there 

Shalt  thou  flit  forth  and  haunt  the  filmy  air." 


"  I  think  there  will  be  memory  of  us  yet  in  after  days," 
said  Sappho,  and  the  sentiment  is  one  which  later  poets 
have  often  imitated.  Thus  the  poetess  had  intimations  of 
the  immortality  that  is  justly  hers,  and  the  reader  will 
heartily  enter  into  the  spirit  of  Swinburne's  paraphrase: 

"I,  Sappho,  shall  be  one  with  all  these  things, 
With  all  things  high  forever ;  and  my  face 
Seen  once,  my  songs  once  heard  in  a  strange  place, 
Cleave  to  men's  lives,  and  waste  the  days  thereof 
In  gladness,  and  much  sadness  and  long  love." 

Sappho  sings  of  love  and  its  manifestations,  of  longing 
and  passion,  of  grief  and  regret,  of  natural  beauty  in 
sea  and  sky,  by  day  and  by  night,  of  the  birds  and  trees 
and  flowers,  and  "all  this  is  told  us  in  language  at  once 
overpowering  and  delicate,  in  verse  as  symmetrical  as  it 
is  exquisite,  free,  and  fervid,  through  metaphor  simple  or 
sublime;  each  word,  each  line,  expressive  of  the  writer's 
inmost  sense;  with  an  art  that,  in  its  Greek  constraint, 
comparison,  and  sweetness,  and  in  its  Oriental  fervor,  is 
faultless  and  unerring." 

Not  only  as  a  poet  is  Sappho  of  interest  to  the  women 
of  our  day,  but  also  because  she  was  the  founder  of  the 
first  woman's  club  of  which  we  have  knowledge.  This 
Lesbian  literary  club  did  not  engage,  however,  in  the 
study  of  current  topics,  or  seek  to  gather  sheaves  of 
knowledge  from  the  field  of  science  and  history,  but  was 
consecrated  strictly  to  the  service  of  the  Muses.  Sappho 
attracted  by  her  fame  young  women  of  Lesbos  and  of 
neighboring  cities.  She  gathered  them  about  her,  gave 


128  WOMAN 

them  instruction  in  poetry  and  music,  and  incited  them  to 
the  cultivation  of  all  the  arts  and  graces.  Many  of  these 
maidens  from  a  distance  doubtless  sought  the  society  of 
Sappho  because  they  were  weary  of  the  low  drudgery  and 
monotonous  routine  of  home  life  that  fell  to  the  lot  of 
women  in  Ionian  cities,  and  because  they  felt  the  need 
of  a  freer  atmosphere  and  more  inspiring  surroundings. 

Sappho  eagerly  sought  to  elevate  her  sex.  She  showed 
them  that,  through  the  more  perfect  training  of  mind  and 
body,  their  horizon  would  be  enlarged,  their  resources  for 
happiness  increased,  and  their  homes  become  centres  of 
inspiring  influences  for  husband  and  children. 

Never  was  there  a  teacher  more  eager  to  possess  her 
pupils'  love  and  confidence.  Maximus  of  Tyre  compares 
her  relations  with  her  girl  friends  to  Socrates Js  relations 
with  young  men.  At  times,  men  have  seen  fit  to  censure 
these  intimate  friendships  of  Socrates  and  Sappho  with 
their  pupils,  and  to  see  in  them  immoral  relations  such  as 
characterized  the  passionate  devotion  of  many  Greek  men 
to  beautiful  youths;  but  there  is  no  ground  for  such  im- 
putations. While  manifesting  the  beauty  and  sweetness 
and  satisfaction  in  woman's  love  for  woman,  Sappho  did 
not  attempt  to  make  this  love  a  substitute  for  the  love  of 
men.  She  herself  was  married;  and  there  are  intimations 
in  her  poems  that  certain  of  her  girl  friends  exchanged 
the  pleasures  of  aesthetic  comradeship  for  the  joys  of 
wedded  life. 

From  the  fragments  of  her  songs,  we  know  the  names  of 
at  least  fourteen  of  her  pupils,  and  it  pleases  the  fancy  to 
attempt  to  reconstruct  a  picture  of  that  delightful  band  of 
girl  friends,  who  spent  their  days  in  the  study  of  poetry 
and  music  and  their  evenings  in  every  elevating  form  of 
recreation.  A  writer  has  thus  sketched  the  picture:  "  Let 
us  call  around  her  in  fancy  the  maidens  who  have  come 


SAPPHO  129 

from  different  parts  of  Greece  to  learn  of  her.  Anactoria 
is  here  from  Miletus,  Eunica  from  Salamis,  Gongyle  from 
Colophon,  and  others  from  Pamphylia,  and  the  isle  of 
Telos.  Erinna  and  Damophyla  study  together  the  com- 
position of  Sapphic  metres.  Atthis  learns  how  to  strike 
the  harp  with  the  plectrum,  Sappho's  invention;  Mnasidica 
embroiders  a  sacred  robe  for  the  temple.  The  teacher 
meanwhile  corrects  the  measures  of  the  one,  the  notes  of 
another,  the  strophes  of  a  third;  then  summons  all  from 
their  work,  to  rehearse  together  some  sacred  chorus  or 
temple  ritual;  then  stops  to  read  a  verse  of  her  own,  or  to 
denounce  a  rival  preceptress.  Throughout  her  intercourse 
with  these  maidens  her  conduct  is  characterized  by  pas- 
sionate love,  as  between  equals  in  mind  and  heart,  and  is 
expressed  in  fervid  and  high-wrought  language  embodying 
a  purity  that  cannot  be  misunderstood  or  cavilled  away." 


3Tf)e 


VII 

THE  SPARTAN  WOMAN 

IT  was  from  Sparta  that  Paris  in  the  Heroic  Age  bore 
away  to  his  Phrygian  home  Argive  Helen,  fairest  of  mor- 
tals, the  Greek  ideal  of  feminine  beauty  and  charm.  But 
never  since  that  fateful  day — as,  indeed,  never  before  it — 
was  there  in  Sparta  any  woman  to  compare  with  her;  for 
the  Spartan  maidens  of  historical  times,  though  comely 
and  vigorous  and  noted  for  physical  beauty,  were  cast  in  a 
firmer,  sturdier  mould  than  that  which  characterized  Helen, 
the  flower  of  grace  and  loveliness.  Yet  the  traveller  in 
Sparta  in  her  prime  must  have  marvelled  at  the  splendid 
maidens  and  matrons  he  saw  amid  the  hills  of  Lacedaemon 
— trained  in  athletic  exercises,  fleet  of  foot,  vigorous  and 
well-proportioned,  and  showing  in  their  very  bearing  how 
important  they  were  to  the  well-being  of  the  State. 

In  Sparta,  woman  was  the  equal  of  man — in  Athens,  his 
inferior.  In  this  fact  lies  the  secret  of  the  training  that 
was  given  her,  for  the  character  of  the  education  of  woman 
is  an  index  to  the  position  assigned  her  by  the  spirit  of  the 
State.  Spartan  legislation  concerning  woman  was  con- 
trolled by  one  idea — to  develop  in  the  maiden  the  mother- 
to-be.  This  idea  is  so  beautiful,  so  profound,  that,  after  all 
the  centuries  which  have  elapsed,  one  cannot  find  a  better 
principle  for  feminine  education.  Like  mother,  like  son — 
and  the  Spartan  ideal  of  the  son  was  the  warrior  strong, 

133 


1 34  WOMAN 

brave,  and  resolute,  enduring  hardship  and  living  solely 
for  the  State.  Hence  the  mother  must  be  strong,  brave, 
and  resolute,  sacrificing  every  womanly  tenderness  to  the 
prevailing  conception  of  patriotism. 

Great  is  the  contrast  between  the  women  of  the  various 
peoples  of  Greece.  The  Achaean  woman,  in  Homeric 
times,  played  no  prominent  part  in  public  affairs;  her 
home  was  her  palace,  and  she  manifested  those  domestic 
traits  and  womanly  qualities  that  in  this  day  still  consti- 
tute womanly  charm.  The  life  of  the  Ionian  woman  was 
a  secluded  one;  she  was  under  the  domination  of  the 
sterner  sex,  and  compelled  to  devote  herself  largely  to 
the  varied  duties  of  the  household.  The  >Eolian  woman, 
on  the  contrary,  had  asserted  her  freedom,  and  lived  on 
terms  of  social  and  intellectual  comradeship  with  men. 
She  devoted  herself  to  the  cultivation  of  every  womanly 
grace,  and  was  the  earnest  follower  of  Aphrodite  and  the 
Muses.  In  contrast  to  these,  the  Spartan  woman  presents 
an  altogether  unique  type.  She  was  merely  a  creature 
of  the  State,  the  cultivation  of  her  higher  nature  being 
under  the  control  of  a  rigid  system.  As  such,  she  con- 
tributed in  a  large  degree  to  the  public  welfare,  but  it  was 
at  the  sacrifice  of  many  feminine  attributes.  In  her, 
natural  affection  and  womanly  sympathy  were  sacrificed 
to  a  single  virtue — patriotism.  But  one  function  was  em- 
phasized— that  of  motherhood.  All  her  training  was  de- 
voted to  but  one  end — that  of  producing  soldiers.  The 
life  of  the  individual  was  strictly  subordinated  to  the  good 
of  the  State.  Such  a  system  evolved  a  remarkable  type  of 
womanhood,  and  the  Spartan  matron  has  won  an  immortal 
name  in  history. 

From  the  central  mass  of  the  mountain  system  of  the 
Peloponnesus  in  Arcadia,  two  chains,  Taygetus  and  Par- 
non,  detach  themselves  and  extend  southward,  terminating 


THE   SPARTAN  WOMAN  135 

in  the  two  dangerous  promontories  of  Tsenarum  and  Malea. 
Between  the  two  ridges  the  river  Eurotas  winds  its  way  in 
a  southeasterly  course.  In  the  undulating  valley  formed 
by  the  bed  of  the  stream,  and  shut  in  by  the  mountain 
ranges,  lay  ancient  Sparta.  The  country,  by  nature  and 
climate,  was  such  as  to  make  men  hardy  and  deter- 
mined. Euripides  styles  it  "a  country  rich  in  produc- 
tions, but  difficult  to  cultivate;  shut  in  on  all  sides  by  a 
barrier  of  stern  mountains;  almost  inaccessible  to  the  foe." 
Its  hidden  situation  in  the  Eurotas  valley  made  it  a  well- 
guarded  camp,  and  the  Dorian  conquerors  of  the  Pelopon- 
nesus, surrounded  by  enemies  and  threatened  by  warlike 
neighbors,  soon  saw  that  the  only  hope  of  holding  their 
conquests  and  extending  their  power  lay  in  the  main- 
tenance of  a  warlike  race. 

Lycurgus,  usually  reputed  to  have  lived  in  the  ninth 
century  before  Christ,  was  the  founder  of  the  legislation 
which  constituted  the  greatness  of  Sparta.  He  was  one 
of  the  originators  of  the  principle,  so  characteristic  of 
antiquity  and  in  such  contrast  to  the  spirit  of  modern 
times:  "The  citizen  is  born  and  lives  for  the  State; 
to  it  his  time,  his  strength,  and  all  his  powers  belong." 
Nowhere  was  this  maxim  so  rigidly  enforced  as  at  Sparta. 
Lycurgus  established  institutions  of  a  public  nature  which 
gave  a  centralized  administration  of  the  most  rigid  sort, 
and  regulations  relating  to  private  life  which  would  de- 
velop a  warlike  type  of  citizen,  the  whole  system  tending 
to  make  Sparta  supreme  in  the  Peloponnesus,  and  her 
soldiers  invincible  in  war.  To  accomplish  this  end,  the 
daily  life  of  every  individual,  both  male  and  female,  was 
under  the  control  of  the  State.  The  effect  of  such  a 
system  on  the  character  has  been  happily  expressed  by 
Rousseau:  "  He  strengthened  the  citizen  by  taking  away 
the  human  traits  from  the  man." 


1 36  WOMAN 

Lycurgus  saw  that  the  salvation  of  Sparta  depended  on 
its  citizens  being  a  nation  of  warriors.  Only  by  being 
always  ready  for  war  and  by  possessing  an  invincible 
body  of  soldiery  could  the  State  fulfil  its  destiny  in  the 
work  of  the  world.  He  realized  further  that  the  natural 
antecedent  of  a  nation  of  men  strong  physically  and  intel- 
lectually is  a  race  of  healthy,  sturdy,  able-bodied  women. 
Hence  his  training  of  the  daughters  of  Sparta  was  the 
corner-stone  of  his  system.  Valuing  woman  only  for  her 
fruitfulness,  his  legislation  in  regard  to  her  had  but  one 
object  in  view — fitting  her  to  be  the  mother  of  a  powerful 
race  of  men.  Maidens,  therefore,  as  well  as  youths,  were 
subjected  to  the  most  rigid  physical  training. 

From  the  moment  of  birth,  the  Spartan  boy  or  girl  was 
in  the  hands  of  the  State.  The  infant  was  exposed  in  the 
place  of  public  assembly,  and  if  the  elders  considered  it 
frail  and  unpromising,  or  for  any  reason  regarded  its  exist- 
ence of  no  value  to  the  State,  the  child  was  thrown  off 
a  cliff  of  Mount  Taygetus, — a  usage  shocking  to  modern 
sensibilities,  but  accepted  as  a  necessity  by  Plato,  Aris- 
totle, and  other  ancient  philosophers.  The  able-bodied 
child  was  restored  to  its  mother,  and  she  directed  the 
early  training  of  her  charge  under  the  eye  of  the  magis- 
trates. Though  the  Spartan  girl  was  not,  as  the  youth, 
removed  altogether  from  the  mother  at  the  age  of  seven 
and  brought  up  in  the  barracks,  yet  her  training  was 
scarcely  less  severe  than  that  of  the  boys.  The  feminine 
tasks  of  spinning  and  weaving,  customary  for  free  women 
of  other  peoples,  were  by  the  Spartans  committed  to  female 
slaves,  and  the  State  so  ordered  the  lives  of  the  free 
maidens  that  they  might  become  in  the  future  the  mothers 
of  robust  children.  "He  [Lycurgus]  directed  the  maid- 
ens," says  Plutarch,  "to  exercise  themselves  with  wrest- 
ling, running,  throwing  the  quoit,  and  casting  the  dart,  to 


THE   SPARTAN  WOMAN  137 

the  end  that  the  fruit  they  conceived  might  in  strong  and 
healthy  bodies  take  firmer  root  and  find  better  growth." 
These  gymnastic  exercises  they  practised  in  public,  clad  in 
little  else  save  their  own  modesty,  thus  overcoming  fear 
of  exposure  to  the  air,  as  well  as  overgreat  tenderness 
and  shyness.  Similarly  clad,  they  took  part  in  proces- 
sions along  with  the  young  men,  and  were  trained  in 
singing  and  dancing  in  the  public  choruses.  This  care- 
fully regulated  comradeship  between  youths  and  maidens 
was  encouraged  with  a  view  to  stimulating  the  young  men 
to  deeds  of  valor.  The  maidens  on  these  occasions  would 
make,  by  means  of  jests,  befitting  reflections  on  the  young 
men  who  had  misbehaved  themselves  in  the  wars,  and 
would  sing  encomiums  upon  those  who  had  done  gallant 
actions.  Thus  the  young  men  were  spurred  on  to  greater 
endeavor  by  the  dread  of  feminine  ridicule,  and  were  in- 
spired by  feminine  praise  to  the  performance  of  great 
deeds.  It  was  always  the  part  of  the  Spartan  maiden, 
then,  to  keep  bright  the  fires  of  patriotism  and  heroic  en- 
deavor. The  mother,  by  precept  and  example,  taught  the 
daughter  to  repress  every  emotion  of  womanly  tenderness, 
to  elevate  the  State  to  the  first  place  in  her  heart  and  life, 
and  to  find  her  destiny  in  bearing  brave  sons  to  defend 
her  country.  Thus  admitted  to  the  freedom  of  companion- 
ship with  their  brothers  in  the  games  and  processions,  and 
stimulated  by  the  instructions  of  their  mothers,  they  early 
caught  the  spirit  and  purpose  which  animated  one  and 
all — the  spirit  of  unselfish  patriotism.  It  was  natural, 
therefore,  that  they  accepted  without  a  murmur  the 
tyranny  of  a  single  idea  and  found  in  it  their  glory  and 
pride.  Many  stories  are  told  of  their  remarkable  devotion 
to  the  State.  A  Spartan  mother  who  has  lost  her  boy 
in  battle  exclaims:  "Did  I  not  bear  him  that  he  might 
die  for  Sparta?"  To  another,  waiting  for  tidings  of  the 


1 38  WOMAN 

battle,  comes  a  messenger  announcing  that  her  five  sons 
have  perished.  "You  contemptible  slave,"  she  replies, 
"that  is  not  what  I  wish  to  hear.  How  fares  my  coun- 
try?" On  hearing  that  Sparta  is  victorious,  she  adds, 
without  a  tremor:  "  Willingly,  then,  do  I  hear  of  the  death 
of  my  sons." 

Marriage  is  the  determining  factor  in  the  economic  condi- 
tions of  society,  and  the  regulations  prescribed  concerning 
it  are  an  excellent  index  to  the  character  of  any  people. 
Under  the  Lycurgan  system,  marriage  was  strictly  under 
the  control  of  the  State.  The  goddess  of  love  was  prac- 
tically banished  from  Sparta.  Only  one  temple  to  Aphro- 
dite stood  in  Laceda^mon;  and  in  this  the  goddess  was 
represented  armed,  not  with  her  magic  girdle,  but  with  a 
sword,  and  seated  with  a  veil  over  her  head  and  fetters 
upon  her  feet,  symbolizing  that  she  was  under  restraint. 
History  records  many  instances  of  affection  between  hus- 
band and  wife,  but  considerations  of  love  did  not  enter 
into  the  marriage  contract.  No  frail  woman  was  allowed 
to  marry.  The  age  of  marriage  was  fixed  at  the  period 
which  was  considered  best  for  the  perfection  of  the  off- 
spring, usually  about  thirty  years  in  the  case  of  the  men, 
and  about  twenty  for  the  maidens.  Plutarch  describes 
in  uncolored  language  the  chief  features  of  the  marriage 
relations  of  the  Spartans: 

"  In  their  marriages,  the  husband  carried  off  his  bride 
by  a  sort  of  force;  nor  were  brides  ever  small  and  of 
tender  years,  but  in  their  full  bloom  and  ripeness.  After 
this,  she  who  superintended  the  wedding  comes  and  clips 
the  hair  of  the  bride  close  round  her  head,  dresses  her  up  in 
man's  clothes,  and  leaves  her  upon  a  mattress  in  the  dark; 
afterward  comes  the  bridegroom,  in  his  everyday  clothes, 
sober  and  composed,  as  having  supped  at  the  common 
table;  and  entering  privately  into  the  room  where  the  bride 


THE   SPARTAN  WOMAN  139 

lies,  unties  her  virgin  zone,  and  takes  her  to  himself;  and 
after  staying  some  time  together,  he  returns  composedly 
to  his  own  apartment,  to  sleep  as  usual  with  the  other 
young  men.  And  so  he  continues  to  do,  spending  his 
days  and  indeed  his  nights  with  them,  visiting  his  bride  in 
fear  and  shame  and  with  circumspection,  when  he  thought 
he  should  not  be  observed;  she  also,  on  her  part,  using  her 
wit  to  help  to  find  favorable  opportunities  for  their  meet- 
ing, when  company  was  out  of  the  way.  In  this  manner 
they  lived  a  long  time,  insomuch  that  they  sometimes  had 
children  by  their  wives  before  ever  they  saw  their  faces 
by  daylight.  Their  interviews  being  thus  difficult  and 
rare,  served  not  only  for  continual  exercise  of  their  self- 
control,  but  brought  them  together  with  their  bodies 
healthy  and  vigorous,  and  their  affections  fresh  and  lively, 
unsated  and  undulled  by  easy  access  and  long  continuance 
with  each  other,  while  their  partings  were  always  early 
enough  to  leave  behind  unextinguished  in  each  of  them 
some  remaining  fire  of  longing  and  mutual  delight. 

"  After  guarding  marriage  with  this  modesty  and  re- 
serve, Lycurgus  was  equally  careful  to  banish  empty  and 
womanish  jealousy.  For  this  object,  excluding  all  licen- 
tious disorders,  he  made  it  nevertheless  honorable  for  men 
to  give  the  use  of  their  wives  to  those  whom  they  should 
think  fit,  that  so  they  might  have  children  by  them;  ridi- 
culing those  in  whose  opinion  such  favors  are  so  unfit  for 
participation  as  to  fight  and  shed  blood  and  go  to  war 
therefor.  Lycurgus  allowed  a  man,  who  was  advanced  in 
years  and  had  a  young  wife,  to  recommend  some  virtuous 
and  approved  young  man,  that  she  might  have  a  child  by 
him,  who  might  inherit  the  good  qualities  of  the  father, 
and  be  a  son  to  himself.  On  the  other  side,  an  honest 
man  who  had  love  for  a  married  woman  upon  account 
of  her  modesty  and  the  well-favoredness  of  her  children 


140  WOMAN 

might,  without  formality,  beg  her  company  of  her  husband, 
that  he  might  raise,  as  it  were,  from  this  plot  of  good 
ground  worthy  and  well-allied  children  for  himself." 

Regulations  such  as  these,  though  shocking  to  modern 
sensibilities,  seem  not  to  have  been  detrimental  to  public 
morals  while  Sparta  submitted  to  the  severe  austerity 
of  the  laws.  It  seems  surprising  that,  while  a  woman 
might  lawfully  be  the  recognized  wife  of  two  husbands, 
no  such  duplication  of  spouses  was  allowed  to  a  man. 
This  rule  is  illustrated  by  its  one  historical  exception 
in  the  case  of  King  Anaxandrides,  who,  says  Herodotus, 
when  the  royal  Heraclidsean  line  of  Eurystheus  was  in 
danger  of  becoming  extinct,  married  his  niece,  who  bore 
him  no  children.  The  people  besought  him  to  divorce 
her,  and  to  contract  another  marriage;  but,  owing  to  his 
love  for  his  wife,  he  positively  refused.  Upon  this,  they 
made  a  suggestion  to  him  as  follows:  "Since  then  we 
perceive  thou  art  firmly  attached  to  the  wife  whom  thou 
now  hast,  consent  to  do  this,  and  set  not  thyself  against  it, 
lest  the  Spartans  take  some  counsel  against  thee  other  than 
might  be  wished.  We  do  not  ask  of  thee  the  putting  away 
of  the  wife  thou  now  hast;  but  do  thou  give  to  her  all  that 
thou  givest  now,  and  at  the  same  time  take  to  thy  house 
another  wife  in  addition  to  this  one,  to  bear  thee  children." 
When  they  spoke  to  him  after  this  manner,  Anaxandrides 
consented,  and  from  this  time  forth  he  kept  two  separate 
households,  having  two  wives,  a  thing  which,  we  are  told, 
was  not  by  any  means  after  the  Spartan  fashion. 

Every  inducement  was  offered  to  encourage  matrimony, 
and  bachelors  were  the  objects  of  general  scorn  and  de- 
rision. "  Those  who  continued  bachelors,"  says  Plutarch, 
"were  in  a  degree  disfranchised  by  law;  for  they  were 
excluded  from  the  sight  of  the  public  processions  in  which 
the  young  men  and  maidens  danced  naked,  and  in  the 


THE  SPARTAN  WOMAN  141 

winter-time  the  officers  compelled  them  to  walk  naked 
round  the  market  place,  singing,  as  they  went,  a  certain 
song  to  their  own  disgrace,  that  they  justly  suffered  this 
punishment  for  disobeying  the  laws."  Furthermore,  at 
a  certain  festival  the  women  themselves  sought  to  bring 
these  misguided  individuals  to  a  proper  sense  of  their  duty 
by  dragging  them  round  an  altar  and  continually  inflicting 
blows  upon  them.  Without  doubt,  the  maidens  were  all 
inclined  to  matrimony,  as  it  enhanced  their  influence  and 
enabled  them  to  fulfil  their  mission;  and  the  rulers  were 
ever  ready  to  provide  husbands  for  them. 

A  kind  of  disgrace  attached  to  childlessness.  Men  who 
were  not  fathers  were  denied  the  respect  and  observance 
which  the  young  men  of  Sparta  regularly  paid  their  elders. 
On  one  occasion,  Dercyllidas,  a  commander  of  great  re- 
nown, entered  an  assembly.  A  young  Spartan,  contrary 
to  custom,  failed  to  rise  at  his  approach.  The  veteran 
soldier  was  surprised.  "You  have  no  sons,"  said  the 
youth,  "who  will  one  day  pay  the  same  honor  to  me." 
And  public  opinion  justified  the  excuse. 

The  effects  of  the  athletic  training  upon  the  physical 
nature  of  woman  were  most  commendable.  The  Spartan 
maiden  was  renowned  throughout  Greece  for  preeminence 
in  vigor  of  body  and  beauty  of  form.  Even  the  Athenian 
was  impressed  by  this.  Lysistrata,  in  the  play  of  Aris- 
tophanes, in  greeting  Lampito,  the  delegate  from  Sparta, 
who  has  come  to  a  women's  conference,  speaks  thus: 

"  O  dearest  Laconian,  O  Lampito,  welcome!  How  beau- 
tiful you  look,  sweetest  one!  What  a  fresh  color!  How 
vigorous  your  body  is!  What  beautiful  breasts  you  have! 
Why,  you  could  throttle  an  ox!"  To  this  greeting  comes 
the  reply: 

"  Yes,  I  think  I  could,  by  Castor  and  Pollux!  for  I  prac- 
tise gymnastics  and  leap  high." 


142  WOMAN 

Ideals  of  beauty  differ  in  different  ages  and  countries, 
and  there  is  no  doubt  that  Lampito  was  a  magnificent 
specimen  of  woman;  yet  it  may  be  doubted  whether  such 
masculine  vigor  is  consonant  with  the  highest  moral  and 
spiritual  development,  which,  after  all,  is  the  chief  factor  in 
womanly  charm.  Spartan  women  were  in  demand  every- 
where as  nurses,  and  were  universally  respected  for  their 
vigor  and  prowess;  yet  it  was  the  equally  healthy,  but 
more  graceful,  Ionian  woman  who  was  chosen  as  the 
model  of  the  statues  of  the  goddess  of  love  and  beauty. 

Spartan  discipline  produced  beautiful  animals,  but  any 
system  which  dulled  the  sensibilities  could  hardly  inculcate 
that  grace  and  sweetness  and  warmth  of  temperament 
which  are  essential  to  beauty. 

As  to  the  moral  nature  of  the  Spartan  woman,  there  is 
no  doubt  that  the  unselfish  devotion  to  the  State,  and  the 
subordination  of  individual  inclination  to  the  good  of 
the  whole,  would  tend  to  promote  a  rigid  morality.  Yet  the 
free  intercourse  between  the  sexes  shocked  the  Athenians; 
and  Euripides,  in  the  Andromache,  has  put  into  the  mouth 
of  Peleus  a  severe  indictment  of  the  Spartan  woman: 

"  Though  one  should  essay, 
Virtuous  could  daughter  of  Sparta  never  be. 
They  gad  abroad  with  young  men  from  their  homes, 
And— with  bare  thighs  and  loose,  disgirdled  vesture- 
Race,  wrestle  with  them — things  intolerable 
To  me !    And  is  it  wonder-worthy  then 
That  ye  train  not  your  women  to  be  chaste  ?  " 

The  Spartan  laws,  it  is  true,  permitted  and  encouraged 
certain  practices  regarded  as  morally  wrong  in  this  day, 
yet  that  which  was  lawful  could  not  well  be  considered 
immoral.  Xenophon  and  Plutarch  were  ardent  admirers 
of  the  Spartan  system,  and  strongly  affirm  the  uprightness 
and  nobility  of  the  Spartans.  Plutarch  tells  an  incident 


THE   SPARTAN  WOMAN  143 

to  illustrate  Spartan  virtue  in  the  old  days.  Geradas,  a 
very  ancient  Spartan,  being  asked  by  a  stranger  what 
punishment  their  law  had  appointed  for  adulterers,  an- 
swered: "There  are  no  adulterers  in  our  country." 
"But,"  replied  the  stranger,  "suppose  there  were." 
"Then,"  answered  he,  "the  offender  would  have  to  give 
the  plaintiff  a  bull  with  a  neck  so  long  that  he  might  drink 
from  the  top  of  Taygetus  of  the  Eurotas  River  below  it." 
The  man,  surprised  at  this,  said:  "Why,  'tis  impossible 
to  find  such  a  bull."  Geradas  smilingly  replied:  "It  is 
as  impossible  to  find  an  adulterer  in  Sparta." 

Though  we  have  to  recognize  much  in  the  Spartan 
polity  which  is  repugnant  to  our  ideas  of  the  sacredness 
of  family  ties,  yet  we  must  feel  the  utmost  respect  for  the 
Spartan  matron  in  the  best  days  of  Lacedaemon.  This 
rigid  system  provided  for  four  or  five  centuries  "a  suc- 
cession of  the  strongest  men  that  possibly  ever  existed 
on  the  face  of  the  earth,"  and  the  strength  of  character 
of  the  mothers  made  the  sons  what  they  were.  Only 
the  Roman  matron  can  be  fitly  compared  to  the  Spartan 
mother. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  such  mothers  possessed  an  in- 
fluence envied  throughout  Greece.  "  You  Spartan  women 
are  the  only  ones  who  rule  over  men,"  said  a  stranger  to 
Gorgo,  wife  of  Leonidas.  "True,"  she  rejoined;  "for  we 
are  the  only  ones  who  are  the  mothers  of  men." 

For  several  centuries,  owing  to  her  peculiar  discipline, 
Sparta  was,  excepting  Athens,  the  foremost  State  of 
Greece.  But  time  is  an  enemy  often  not  taken  suffi- 
ciently into  consideration  by  men  who  establish  peculiar 
systems.  And  Lycurgus,  who  wished  to  make  his  system 
perpetual,  did  not  fully  consider  the  disintegrating  effects 
which  time  exerts  on  all  things  temporal.  "  Naturam 
expellas  furca,  tamen  usque  recurret  [You  may  repress 


144  WOMAN 

natural  propensities  by  force,  but  they  will  be  certain  to 
reappear],"  says  Horace,  the  wisest  of  Roman  satirists; 
and  the  Spartan  polity  had  attempted  to  repress  nature 
in  men  and  women  and  to  control  it  by  law.  The  great 
fault  in  the  Lacedaemonian  constitution  was  in  effect  the 
violation  of  the  eternal  laws  which  assign  to  each  creature 
his  r61e  in  the  harmony  of  the  world.  Men  are  made  for 
war,  but  they  are  made  for  peace  as  well.  Therefore,  as 
Lycurgus  made  the  city  an  armed  camp,  in  periods  of 
peace  the  Spartan  man  "  rusted  like  an  unused  sword  in 
its  scabbard,"  and  in  idleness  at  home  or  in  garrison  duty 
abroad  fell  an  easy  victim  to  avarice  and  lust. 

In  his  legislation  concerning  women,  Lycurgus  violated 
natural  propensities  to  an  even  greater  extent  than  he  had 
in  his  laws  governing  the  conduct  of  men.  Woman  was 
destined  primarily  for  domestic  life.  She  was  created  to 
bear  children;  but  her  kingdom  is  the  home,  with  its  mani- 
fold duties,  and  rearing  children  is  as  much  her  function 
as  bearing  them.  Yet  the  Spartan  lad  was  taken  forci- 
bly from  his  mother  at  the  tender  age  of  seven,  and 
the  Spartan  maiden,  while  living  at  home,  was  subject 
to  stringent  regulations  formulated  and  enforced  by  the 
State. 

Woman  is  intuitively  interested  in  domestic  duties, 
in  housekeeping  and  clothes  mending,  and  in  caring  for 
the  innumerable  wants  of  husband  and  children.  Yet  the 
Syssitia,  or  public  meals,  deprived  her  of  the  society  of 
husband  and  sons,  and  took  from  her  domestic  cares  be- 
cause they  were  deemed  too  menial  for  a  free  Spartan. 
"Female  slaves,"  averred  Lycurgus,  "are  good  enough  to 
sit  at  home  spinning  and  weaving;  but  who"  can  expect  a 
splendid  offspring — the  appropriate  mission  and  duty  of 
a  free  Spartan  woman  toward  her  country — from  mothers 
brought  up  in  such  occupations?" 


THE   SPARTAN  WOMAN  145 

Although  the  Spartan  system  prescribed  rigid  discipline 
for  the  Spartan  woman  up  to  the  time  of  motherhood, 
after  that  time  it  left  her  life  altogether  unregulated  by 
law.  Plato,  who  was  in  many  respects  a  great  admirer 
of  the  Spartans,  criticises  this  singular  defect.  He  found 
fault  with  a  system  which  regarded  woman  only  as  a 
mother,  and  consequently,  when  children  had  been  born 
and  turned  over  to  the  State,  did  not  by  law  provide  oc- 
cupation for  the  mothers  or  in  any  way  regulate  their 
conduct.  There  was  nothing  to  restrain  their  luxury  or 
keep  them  loyal  to  duty  and  probity.  Higher  culture  was 
discouraged,  intercourse  with  strangers  was  forbidden, 
and  woman  was  left  largely  to  her  own  devices  for  em- 
ployment and  recreation;  but  she  was  deprived  in  large 
measure  of  the  usual  feminine  occupations.  During  the 
old  days,  when  the  State  was  the  all  in  all  of  the  citizens, 
and  the  mothers  were  urging  on  husbands  and  sons  to 
valiant  deeds,  the  evils  of  the  Lycurgan  system  did  not 
show  themselves;  but  when  the  crisis  came,  and  Sparta 
lost  her  supremacy  in  Greek  affairs,  then  old  manners 
gave  way,  vice  and  weakness  rushed  in,  and  men  and 
women  alike  were  debauched  and  evil. 

Aristotle,  who  was  at  his  zenith  during  the  latter  part  of 
the  fourth  century  before  Christ,  is  severe  in  his  denun- 
ciations of  the  license  of  the  Spartan  women.  This  he 
regards  as  defeating  the  intention  of  the  Spartan  constitu- 
tion and  subversive  of  the  good  order  of  the  State.  He 
argues  that,  while  Lycurgus  sought  to  make  the  whole 
State  hardy  and  temperate,  and  succeeded  in  the  case  of 
the  men,  he  had  not  done  so  with  the  women,  who  lived 
in  every  sort  of  intemperance  and  luxury.  He  charges 
that  the  Spartan  men  are  under  the  domination  of  their 
wives — Ares  being  ever  susceptible  to  the  wishes  and 
inclinations  of  Aphrodite.  And  the  result  is  the  same,  he 


146  WOMAN 

adds,  "whether  women  rule  or  the  rulers  are  ruled  by 
women."  He  also  attacks  the  courage  of  the  women, 
stating  that  in  a  Theban  invasion  they  had  been  utterly 
useless  and  caused  more  confusion  than  the  enemy.  He 
finds  them  prone  to  avarice,  and  regrets  that,  owing  to  the 
inequality  of  the  laws  governing  property,  more  than  two- 
fifths  of  the  whole  country  was  already  in  the  hands  of 
women. 

Nature  in  the  end  asserted  herself,  and  the  evils  inherent 
in  the  Lycurgan  system  brought  about  the  fall  of  the  State. 
Sparta  had  sacrificed  the  liberties  of  her  citizens,  she  had 
despised  the  laws  of  nature  in  the  destiny  and  education 
of  women,  she  had  banished  the  arts,  and  had  sought  to 
keep  out  every  humanizing  influence.  Consequently, 
when  that  constitution,  inflexible  and  in  certain  respects 
immoral  and  unnatural,  was  impaired,  her  decline  was 
rapid.  Sad  it  is  that  Aristotle  should  have  perceived  in 
the  immorality,  the  greed,  the  misconduct,  of  the  women, 
one  of  the  causes  of  the  fall  of  Sparta! 

Sparta  had  become  degenerate,  but  she  was  not  to  die 
without  a  final  struggle.  In  the  middle  of  the  third  cen- 
tury before  Christ,  two  kings  of  Sparta,  inspired  by  the 
stories  of  her  early  days,  endeavored  to  overcome  the  lux- 
ury and  vice  that  were  rampant  and  to  restore  the  State 
to  its  primitive  simplicity  and  greatness.  In  their  merito- 
rious efforts  to  accomplish  the  impossible,  they  enlisted 
the  efforts  of  noble  women,  who  by  their  self-sacrificing 
devotion  cast  a  momentary  radiance  over  the  dying  State. 

The  earliest  of  these  two  kings  was  the  young  and 
gentle  Agis.  In  the  corrupt  state  of  society  he  saw  need 
of  reforms,  and  wished  to  begin  at  the  root  of  the  evil 
by  annulling  debts  and  redistributing  the  land.  One  of 
the  first  counsellors  whom  he  consulted  in  his  projected 
reforms  was  his  mother,  Agesistrata,  a  woman  of  great 


THE   SPARTAN  WOMAN  147 

wealth  and  power,  who  had  many  of  the  Spartans  in  her 
debt  and  would  be  seriously  affected  by  the  change.  Yet, 
becoming  conscious  of  the  need  of  reforms,  she,  with  the 
grandmother  of  the  young  king,  entered  heartily  into  his 
plans  to  restore  the  greatness  of  Sparta.  Agesistrata 
urged  other  aristocratic  women  to  join  in  the  movement, 
"knowing  well  that  the  Lacedaemonian  wives  always 
had  great  power  with  their  husbands."  These,  however, 
violently  opposed  the  scheme,  because  at  this  time  most 
of  the  money  of  Sparta  was  in  the  women's  hands  and 
was  the  main  support  of  their  credit  and  power.  Leonidas, 
the  other  king,  was  the  head  of  the  opposition,  and  a 
deadly  struggle  followed  between  Agis  and  Leonidas — the 
one  standing  for  the  people,  the  other  for  the  aristocrats. 
Agis  was  at  first  successful,  and  Leonidas  was  deposed, 
Cleombrotus,  his  son-in-law,  being  elevated  to  the  king- 
ship in  his  stead.  Another  woman  now  comes  to  the  front. 
Chilonis,  Cleombrotus's  wife  and  Leonidas's  daughter, 
seeing  her  aged  father  in  exile  and  distress,  leaves  her 
husband  in  the  height  of  his  power  and  devotes  herself  to 
her  aged  father. 

However,  the  wheel  of  fortune  again  turns,  and  Leon- 
idas is  restored  to  power.  Agis  and  Cleombrotus  flee  for 
their  lives,  and  become  suppliants — the  one  at  the  temple 
of  the  Brazen  House,  the  other  at  the  temple  of  Poseidon. 
Leonidas,  being  more  incensed  against  his  son-in-law, 
leaves  Agis  for  the  time  and  goes  with  his  soldiers  to 
Cleombrotus's  sanctuary  to  reproach  him  for  having  con- 
spired with  his  enemies,  usurped  his  throne,  and  driven  him 
from  his  country.  Chilonis,  perceiving  the  great  danger 
threatening  her  husband,  leaves  her  father  and  seeks  to  aid 
and  comfort  the  fugitive.  Plutarch  thus  tells  her  story: 

"Cleombrotus,  having  little  to  say  for  himself,  sat 
silent.  His  wife,  Chilonis,  the  daughter  of  Leonidas,  had 


148  WOMAN 

chosen  to  follow  her  father  in  his  sufferings;  for  when 
Cleombrotus  usurped  the  kingdom,  she  forsook  him  and 
wholly  devoted  herself  to  comforting  her  father  in  his 
affliction;  whilst  he  still  remained  in  Sparta,  she  remained 
also,  as  a  suppliant,  with  him;  and  when  he  fled,  she  fled 
with  him,  bewailing  his  misfortune,  and  extremely  dis- 
pleased with  Cleombrotus.  But  now,  upon  this  turn  of 
fortune,  she  changed  in  like  manner,  and  was  seen  sitting 
now,  as  a  suppliant,  with  her  husband,  embracing  him 
with  her  arms,  and  having  her  two  little  children  beside 
her.  All  men  were  full  of  wonder  at  the  piety  and  tender 
affection  of  the  young  woman,  who,  pointing  to  her  robes 
and  her  hair,  both  alike  neglected  and  unattended  to,  said 
to  Leonidas:  '  I  am  not  brought,  my  father,  to  this  condi- 
tion you  see  me  in,  on  account  of  the  present  misfortune 
of  Cleombrotus;  my  mourning  habit  is  long  since  familiar 
to  me;  it  was  put  on  to  condole  with  you  in  your  banish- 
ment; and  now  you  are  restored  to  your  country,  and  to 
your  kingdom,  must  I  still  remain  in  grief  and  misery? 
Or  would  you  have  me  attired  in  my  royal  ornaments, 
that  I  may  rejoice  with  you  when  you  have  killed,  within 
my  arms,  the  man  to  whom  you  gave  me  for  a  wife? 
Either  Cleombrotus  must  appease  you  by  mine  and  my 
children's  tears,  or  he  must  suffer  a  punishment  greater 
than  you  propose  for  his  faults,  and  shall  see  me,  whom 
he  loves  so  well,  die  before  him.  To  what  end  should  I 
live,  or  how  shall  I  appear  among  the  Spartan  women, 
when  it  shall  so  manifestly  be  seen  that  I  have  not  been 
able  to  move  to  compassion  either  a  husband  or  a  father? 
I  was  born,  it  seems,  to  participate  in  the  ill  fortune  and  in 
the  disgrace,  both  as  a  wife  and  a  daughter,  of  those  near- 
est and  dearest  to  me.  As  for  Cleombrotus,  I  sufficiently 
surrendered  any  honorable  plea  on  his  behalf  when  I  for- 
sook him  to  follow  you;  but  you  yourself  offer  the  fairest 


THE   SPARTAN  WOMAN  149 

excuse  for  his  proceedings,  by  showing  to  the  world  that 
for  the  sake  of  a  kingdom  it  is  just  to  kill  a  son-in-law 
and  be  regardless  of  a  daughter.'  Chilonis,  having  ended 
this  lamentation,  rested  her  face  on  her  husband's  head, 
and  looked  round  with  her  weeping  and  woe-begone  eyes 
upon  those  who  stood  before  her. 

"  Leonidas,  touched  with  compassion,  withdrew  a  while 
to  advise  with  his  friends;  then,  returning,  bade  Cle- 
ombrotus  leave  the  sanctuary  and  go  into  banishment; 
'  Chilonis,'  he  said,  'ought  to  stay  with  him,  it  not  being 
just  that  she  should  forsake  a  father  whose  affection  had 
granted  to  her  the  life  of  a  husband.'  But  all  he  could 
say  would  not  prevail.  She  rose  up  immediately,  and 
taking  one  of  her  children  in  her  arms,  gave  the  other  to 
her  husband,  and  making  her  reverence  to  the  altar  of  the 
deity,  went  out  and  followed  him.  So  that,  in  a  word, 
if  Cleombrotus  were  not  utterly  blinded  by  ambition,  he 
would  surely  choose  to  be  banished  with  so  excellent  a 
woman  rather  than  without  her  to  possess  a  kingdom." 

Having  disposed  of  Cleombrotus,  Leonidas  next  pro- 
ceeded to  consider  how  he  might  entrap  Agis.  Agis, 
however,  held  his  sanctuary  until  he  was  finally  betrayed 
by  the  treachery  of  three  pretended  friends,  Amphares, 
Damochares,  and  Arcesilaus.  He  was  led  off  to  prison 
and  executed. 

Plutarch  says:  "Immediately  after  he  was  dead,  Am- 
phares went  out  of  the  prison  gate,  where  he  found 
Agesistrata,  who,  believing  him  still  the  same  friend  as 
before,  threw  herself  at  his  feet.  He  gently  raised  her 
up,  and  assured  her  she  need  not  fear  any  further  violence 
or  danger  of  death  for  her  son,  and  that,  if  she  pleased,  she 
might  go  in  and  see  him.  She  begged  her  mother  might 
also  have  the  favor  to  be  admitted,  and  he  replied  that 
nobody  should  hinder  it.  When  they  were  entered,  he 


I$0  WOMAN 

commanded  the  gate  should  again  be  locked,  and  Archi- 
damia,  the  grandmother,  to  be  first  introduced;  she  was 
now  grown  to  be  very  old,  and  had  lived  all  her  days  in  the 
highest  repute  among  her  fellows.  As  soon  as  Amphares 
thought  she  was  despatched,  he  told  Agesistrata  she  might 
now  go  in  if  she  pleased.  She  entered;  and  beholding  her 
son's  body  stretched  on  the  ground,  and  her  mother's 
hanging  by  the  neck,  the  first  thing  she  did  was,  with  her 
own  hand,  to  assist  the  officers  in  taking  down  the  body; 
then,  covering  it  decently,  she  laid  it  out  by  her  son's, 
whom  then  embracing,  and  kissing  his  cheeks,  'O  my 
son,'  said  she,  '  it  was  thy  too  great  mercy  and  good- 
ness which  brought  thee  and  us  to  ruin.'  Amphares, 
who  stood  watching  behind  the  door,  on  hearing  this, 
broke  in,  and  said  angrily  to  her,  '  Since  you  approve  so 
well  of  your  son's  actions,  it  is  fit  you  should  partake 
in  his  reward.'  She,  rising  up  to  offer  herself  to  the 
noose,  said  only,  '  I  pray  that  it  may  redound  to  the  good 
of  Sparta.'  " 

Thus  was  defeated  the  first  effort  for  the  reformation  of 
Sparta.  In  the  city's  long  history,  Agis  was  the  first  king 
who  had  been  put  to  death  by  the  order  of  the  ephors. 
When  the  bodies  of  the  gentle  king  and  his  noble  mother 
and  grandmother  were  exposed,  the  horror  of  the  people 
knew  no  bounds,  and  the  aged  Leonidas  and  Amphares 
became  the  objects  of  public  detestation. 

The  second  attempt  at  the  reformation  of  Sparta  is  also 
remarkable  for  the  unselfishness  and  nobility  of  the  women 
who  took  part. 

After  the  execution  of  King  Agis,  his  wife,  Agiatis,  was 
compelled  by  Leonidas  to  become  the  wife  of  his  son 
Cleomenes,  though  the  latter  was  as  yet  too  young  to 
marry.  As  Agiatis  was  the  heiress  of  the  great  estate  of 
her  father,  Gylippus,  the  old  king  was  unwilling  that  she 


THE   SPARTAN  WOMAN  I$I 

should  be  the  wife  of  anyone  but  his  son.  Agiatis  was, 
says  Plutarch,  "  in  person  the  most  youthful  and  beautiful 
woman  in  all  Greece,  and  well-conducted  in  her  habits  of 
life."  She  resisted  the  union  as  long  as  she  could;  but 
when  forced  to  marry,  she  became  to  the  youth  a  kind 
and  obliging  wife.  Cleomenes  loved  her  very  dearly,  and 
often  asked  her  about  the  reforms  of  Agis;  and  she  did  not 
fail  to  inspire  him  with  the  lofty  ideals  of  her  former  gentle 
and  high-minded  husband.  Cleomenes  himself,  in  conse- 
quence, fell  in  love  with  the  old  ways,  and,  after  Leoni- 
das's  death,  attempted  to  carry  out  the  reforms  in  which 
Agis  had  failed.  His  mother,  Cratesiclea,  was  also  very 
zealous  to  promote  his  ambitions;  and  in  order  that  she 
might  effectually  assist  him  in  his  plans,  she  accepted  as 
her  husband  one  of  the  foremost  in  wealth  and  power 
among  the  citizens.  With  her  help,  the  king  succeeded 
in  breaking  the  power  of  the  ephors,  and  a  return  to 
the  system  of  Lycurgus  was  partially  accomplished.  But 
Cleomenes  had  aroused  a  formidable  enemy  in  the  person 
of  Aratus,  head  of  the  Achaean  League.  He  carried  into 
Achaea  the  war  against  Aratus,  and  made  himself  master 
of  almost  all  Peloponnesus,  but,  through  the  persistence  of 
his  enemies,  almost  as  quickly  lost  that  territory.  In  the 
midst  of  his  misfortunes,  he  received  news  of  the  death 
of  his  wife,  to  whom  he  was  devotedly  attached.  "This 
news  afflicted  him  extremely,"  says  Plutarch,  "and  he 
grieved  as  a  young  man  would  do,  for  the  loss  of  a  very 
beautiful  and  excellent  wife."  When  all  seemed  lost, 
he  received  promise  of  assistance  from  King  Ptolemy  of 
Egypt,  but  only  on  condition  that  he  send  the  latter  his 
mother  and  children  as  hostages.  Plutarch  thus  continues 
the  story: 

"  Now  Ptolemy,  the  King  of  Egypt,  promised  him  assist- 
ance, but  demanded  his  mother  and  children  for  hostages. 


152  WOMAN 

This,  for  a  considerable  time,  he  was  ashamed  to  discover 
to  his  mother;  and  though  he  often  went  to  her  on  purpose, 
and  was  just  upon  the  discourse,  yet  he  still  refrained,  and 
kept  it  to  himself;  so  that  she  began  to  suspect,  and  asked 
his  friend  whether  Cleomenes  had  something  to  say  to 
her  which  he  was  afraid  to  speak.  At  last,  Cleomenes 
venturing  to  tell  her,  she  laughed  aloud,  and  said:  'Was 
this  the  thing  that  you  had  so  often  a  mind  to  tell  me,  but 
were  afraid?  Make  haste  and  put  me  on  shipboard,  and 
send  this  carcass  where  it  may  be  most  serviceable  to 
Sparta,  before  age  destroys  it  unprofitably  here.'  There- 
fore, all  things  being  provided  for  the  voyage,  they  went 
by  land  to  Taenarum,  and  the  army  waited  on  them. 
Cratesiclea,  when  she  was  ready  to  go  on  board,  took 
Cleomenes  aside  into  Poseidon's  temple,  and,  embracing 
him,  who  was  much  dejected  and  extremely  discomposed, 
she  said:  '  Go  to,  King  of  Sparta;  when  we  come  forth  at 
the  door,  let  none  see  us  weep  or  show  any  passion  that 
is  unworthy  of  Sparta,  for  that  alone  is  in  our  power;  as 
for  success  or  disappointment,  those  wait  on  us  as  the 
deity  decrees.'  Having  this  said,  and  composed  her  coun- 
tenance, she  went  to  the  ship  with  her  little  grandson,  and 
bade  the  pilot  put  out  at  once  to  sea.  When  she  came  to 
Egypt,  and  understood  that  Ptolemy  entertained  proposals 
and  overtures  of  peace  from  Antigonus,  and  that  Cleom- 
enes, though  the  Achaeans  invited  and  urged  him  to  an 
agreement,  was  afraid  for  her  sake  to  come  to  any  with- 
out Ptolemy's  consent,  she  wrote  to  him,  advising  him  to 
do  that  which  was  most  becoming  and  most  profitable  for 
Sparta,  and  not,  for  the  sake  of  an  old  woman  and  a  little 
child,  stand  always  in  fear  of  Ptolemy.  This  character 
she  maintained  in  her  misfortunes." 

Cleomenes,  however,  soon  realized  how  little  reliance 
is  to  be  put  in  the  favors  of  princes.     Antigonus  of  Syria 


THE   SPARTAN   WOMAN  153 

took  the  part  of  Aratus  against  him,  and  Ptolemy,  who 
had  been  ever  ready  to  help  the  valiant  Spartan,  did  not 
care  to  invite  the  hostility  of  a  greater  foe.  Cleomenes 
was  defeated  by  Antigonus,  and  became  an  exile  at  the 
court  of  Ptolemy,  but  it  proved  to  be  a  prison  instead  of 
a  home.  Upon  the  death  of  the  elder  Ptolemy,  his  son 
kept  Cleomenes  and  his  friends  under  restraint,  and,  to 
please  Antigonus,  purposed  putting  them  to  death.  Cle- 
omenes and  his  companions,  knowing  that  a  tragic  end 
awaited  them,  determined  to  break  through  their  prison 
bars  and  to  rouse  the  populace  to  a  revolt  against  Ptolemy. 
They  easily  made  their  escape,  but  the  people  could  not 
be  persuaded  to  undertake  any  struggle  for  liberty;  and  so 
the  devoted  band  resolved  to  die.  Then  each  one  killed 
himself,  except  Panteus,  the  youngest  and  handsomest 
of  them  all,  who  was  selected  by  Cleomenes  to  wait  till 
the  rest  were  dead,  so  that  he  might  perform  for  them  the 
last  offices.  He  carefully  arranged  all  the  bodies  of  his 
comrades,  and  then,  kissing  his  beloved  king  and  throwing 
his  arms  about  him,  slew  himself.  The  news  of  this  sad 
event,  having  spread  through  the  city,  finally  reached  the 
aged  mother,  Cratesiclea,  who,  though  a  woman  of  great 
spirit,  could  hardly  bear  up  against  the  weight  of  this 
affliction,  especially  as  she  knew  that  an  equally  tragic 
fate  awaited  her  grandchildren. 

The  Egyptian  king  ordered  that  Cleomenes's  body 
should  be  flayed,  and  that  his  children,  his  mother,  and 
the  women  that  were  with  her,  should  be  put  to  death. 
Among  these  was  the  wife  of  Panteus,  still  very  young 
and  exquisitely  beautiful,  who  had  but  lately  been  mar- 
ried. Her  parents  would  not  suffer  her  to  embark  with 
Panteus  for  Egypt  so  soon  after  they  had  been  married, 
though  she  eagerly  desired  it,  and  her  father  had  shut  her 
up  and  kept  her  forcibly  at  home.  But  she  found  means 


1 54  WOMAN 

of  escape.  A  few  days  after  Panteus's  departure,  she 
slipped  out  by  night,  mounted  a  horse  and  rode  to  Taen- 
arum,  and  there  embarked  on  a  vessel  sailing  for  Egypt, 
where  she  soon  found  her  husband,  and  with  him  cheer- 
fully endured  all  the  sufferings  and  hardships  that  befell 
them  in  a  hostile  country.  She  was  now  the  moral  support 
of  the  whole  company  of  helpless  women.  She  moved 
about  among  them,  comforting  and  consoling.  She  gave 
her  hand  to  Cratesiclea,  as  the  latter  was  being  led  out  by 
the  soldiers  to  execution,  held  up  her  robe,  and  begged  her 
to  be  courageous,  being  herself  not  in  the  least  afraid  of 
death,  and  desiring  nothing  else  than  to  be  killed  before 
the  children  were  put  to  death.  When  they  reached  the 
place  of  execution,  the  children  were  first  killed  before 
Cratesiclea's  eyes;  and  afterward  she  herself  suffered 
death,  with  these  pathetic  words  on  her  lips:  "  O  children, 
whither  are  you  gone?"  Panteus's  wife,  as  her  husband 
did  for  the  men,  performed  the  last  offices  for  the  women. 
In  silence  and  perfect  composure,  she  looked  after  every 
one  that  was  slain,  and  laid  out  the  bodies  as  decently  as 
circumstances  would  permit.  And  then,  after  all  were 
killed,  adjusting  her  own  robe  so  that  she  might  fall  be- 
comingly, she  courageously  submitted  to  the  stroke  of  the 
executioner. 

Thus  ended  the  second  great  movement  for  the  reforma- 
tion of  Sparta,  and  henceforth  Sparta,  as  an  independent 
State,  disappears  from  history.  The  story  of  the  fall  of 
Sparta  owes  its  human  interest  chiefly  to  the  women  in- 
volved, and  Plutarch  recognizes  this  fact  when,  in  con- 
cluding his  story  of  Cleomenes,  he,  with  the  Greek  dramatic 
contests  before  his  mind,  says:  "Thus  Laceda^mon,  ex- 
hibiting a  dramatic  contest  in  which  the  women  vied  with 
the  men,  showed  in  her  last  days  that  virtue  cannot  be 
insulted  by  fortune." 


THE   SPARTAN  WOMAN  155 

Chilonis,  Agesistrata,  Agiatis,  Cratesiclea,  the  wife  of 
Panteus, — what  a  pity  that  we  do  not  know  her  name! — 
constitute  the  most  admirable  feminine  group  that  Greek 
history  offers  us.  What  especially  charms  us  is  that  they 
unite  with  the  strength  and  self-abnegation  of  the  ancient 
Spartan  matron  a  sweetness,  a  tenderness,  a  womanliness, 
which  we  have  not  been  accustomed  to  attribute  to  Spar- 
tan women.  They  are  Spartans,  but  they  are,  above  all, 
women. 


atfjenian  SiKoman 


VIII 

THE   ATHENIAN   WOMAN 

DIVERGENT  views  have  been  entertained  by  writers 
who  have  discussed  the  social  position  of  woman  at  Athens 
and  the  estimation  in  which  she  was  held  by  man.  Many 
scholars  have  asserted  that  women  were  held  in  a  durance 
not  unlike  that  of  the  Oriental  harem,  that  their  life 
was  a  species  of  vassalage,  and  that  they  were  treated 
with  contempt  by  the  other  sex;  while  the  few  have  con- 
tended that  there  existed  a  degree  of  emancipation  differ- 
ing but  slightly  from  that  of  the  female  sex  in  modern 
times.  As  is  usually  the  case,  the  truth  lies  in  the  golden 
mean  between  these  two  extremes;  and  a  careful  perusal 
of  Greek  authors,  with  the  judgment  directed  to  the  spirit  of 
their  references  to  women  rather  than  to  a  literal  interpre- 
tation of  disparate  passages,  will  show  that  the  status  of 
the  f reeborn  Athenian  woman,  while  by  no  means  ideal  or 
conforming  to  our  present  standards,  was  far  better  than  is 
usually  conceded  by  the  writers  upon  Greek  life. 

It  cannot  be  denied,  however,  that  the  social  position  of 
the  Athenian  woman  was  far  inferior  to  that  of  the  woman 
of  the  Heroic  Age,  and  that,  despite  the  boasted  democracy 
and  freedom  of  thought  of  the  period,  woman's  status  in 
the  years  of  republican  Athens  was  a  reproach  to  the 
advanced  culture  and  love  of  the  good  and  the  beautiful 

159 


I<50  WOMAN 

of  which  the  city  of  the  violet  crown  was  the  exponent. 
There  had  been  a  revolution  in  the  habits  of  life  of  the 
Greeks  since  the  days  when  Homer  sang  of  the  women  of 
heroic  Greece,  and  the  student  does  not  have  to  search 
far  to  discover  the  principal  causes  of  the  change. 

The  chief  of  these  is  the  Greek  idea  of  the  city-state, 
which  reached  its  highest  development  in  Athens.  Citi- 
zenship was,  as  a  rule,  hereditary,  and  every  possible 
legal  measure  was  taken  to  preserve  its  purity.  The 
main  principle  of  this  hereditary  citizenship  was  that  the 
union  from  which  the  child  was  sprung  must  be  one 
recognized  by  the  State.  This  was  accomplished  by  re- 
quiring a  legitimate  marriage,  either  through  betrothal  by 
a  parent  or  guardian,  or  through  assignment  by  a  magis- 
trate. Pericles  revised  the  old  conditions,  which  had 
become  lax  during  the  tyranny,  by  passing  a  measure 
limiting  citizenship  to  those  who  were  born  of  two  Athe- 
nian parents.  Greater  stress  was  laid  on  the  citizenship 
of  the  mother  than  on  that  of  the  father,  as  the  child  was 
regarded  as  belonging  naturally  to  the  mother.  It  was  pos- 
sible to  increase  the  citizen  body  by  a  vote  of  the  people; 
but  in  the  best  days  of  Athens  her  citizenship  was  regarded 
as  so  high  a  privilege  that  the  franchise  was  most  jeal- 
ously guarded.  Consequently,  in  the  fifth  century  we 
see  in  Athens  and  Attica  a  population  of  about  four  hun- 
dred thousand,  of  which  not  more  than  fifty  thousand 
were  citizens;  the  rest  consisted  of  minors,  of  resident 
aliens  numbering  some  fifteen  thousand,  and  of  slaves,  of 
whom  there  were  about  two  hundred  thousand  in  the 
Periclean  Age. 

To  preserve  the  purity  of  the  citizenship  in  so  large  a 
population  of  residents,  increased  by  thousands  of  visitors 
and  strangers  who  frequented  the  metropolis,  every  pre- 
caution was  taken  that  the  daughters  of  Athens  should 


THE  ATHENIAN  WOMAN  l6l 

not  be  wedded  to  foreigners,  and  that  no  spurious  offspring 
should  be  palmed  off  on  the  State.  Hence  marriage  by  a 
citizen  was  restricted  to  a  union  with  a  legitimate  Athe- 
nian maiden  with  full  birthright.  The  marriage  of  an 
Athenian  maiden  with  a  stranger,  or  of  a  citizen  with  a 
foreigner,  was  strictly  forbidden,  and  the  offspring  of  such 
a  union  was  illegitimate. 

Under  such  a  conception  of  polity,  marriage  lay  at  the 
very  basis  of  the  State;  and  respect  for  the  local  deities, 
obligations  of  citizenship,  and  regard  for  one's  race  and 
lineage,  demanded  that  every  safeguard  should  be  thrown 
about  it,  and  that  the  women  of  Athens  should  conform  to 
those  enactments  and  customs  which  would  fit  them  to  be 
the  mothers  of  citizens  and  would  keep  from  them  every 
entangling  intrigue  with  strangers. 

The  result  of  this  polity  was  a  singular  phenomenon: 
there  were  in  Athens  two  classes  of  women — one  care- 
fully secluded  and  restricted,  under  the  rigid  surveillance  of 
law  and  custom;  the  other,  free  to  do  whatever  it  pleased, 
except  to  marry  citizens.  Yet  the  latter  class  would  gladly 
have  exchanged  places  with  the  former;  while  the  former, 
no  doubt,  envied  the  freedom  and  social  accomplishments 
of  the  latter.  The  one  class  consisted  of  the  highborn 
matrons  of  Athens,  glorying  in  their  birthright,  and  rulers 
of  the  home;  the  other,  of  the  resident  aliens  of  the  female 
sex,  unmarried,  emancipated  intellectually  as  untrammelled 
morally,  who  could  become  the  "companions"  of  the  great 
men  of  the  city.  Thus,  owing  to  the  Athenian  conception 
of  the  city-state,  the  natural  functions  of  woman — domes- 
ticity and  companionship,  which  should  be  united  in  one 
person,  were  divided,  the  Athenian  man  looking  to  his 
wife  merely  for  the  care  of  the  home  and  the  bearing  and 
rearing  of  children,  and  to  the  hetasra  for  comradeship 
and  intellectual  sympathy.  This  evil  was  the  canker-worm 


162  WOMAN 

which  gnawed  out  the  core  of  the  social  life  of  Athens  and 
caused  the  unhappiness  of  the  female  sex. 

At  the  birth  of  a  girl  in  Athens,  woollen  fillets  were 
hung  upon  the  door  of  the  house  to  indicate  the  sex  of 
the  child,  the  olive  wreath  being  used  to  proclaim  the  birth 
of  a  boy.  This  custom  demonstrates  the  relative  impor- 
tance of  son  and  daughter  in  the  eyes  of  the  parents  and 
the  public.  The  son  was  destined  for  all  the  victories 
that  public  life  and  the  prestige  of  the  State  can  give; 
therefore,  the  olive,  symbol  of  victory,  served  to  make 
known  his  advent.  The  daughter's  life  was  to  be  one  of 
domestic  duties,  hence  the  band  of  wool,  with  its  connota- 
tion of  spinning  and  weaving,  was  a  fitting  emblem  of  the 
career  for  which  the  babe  was  destined.  The  plan  of  a 
Greek  house  indicates  how  secluded  woman's  whole  life 
was  to  be.  In  the  interior  part  of  the  Greek  mansion, 
separated  from  the  front  of  the  building  by  a  door,  lay  the 
gynazconitis,  or  women's  apartments,  usually  built  around 
a  court.  Here  were  bedrooms,  dining-rooms,  the  nursery, 
the  rooms  for  spinning  and  weaving,  where  the  lady  of  the 
house  sat  at  her  wheel.  This  was,  in  brief,  the  feminine 
domain. 

In  the  seclusion  of  the  gyn&contfis,  the  girl-child  was 
reared  by  its  mother  and  nurse.  Her  playthings — dishes, 
toy  spindles,  and  dolls — were  such  as  to  cultivate  her  taste 
for  domestic  duties.  No  regular  public  and  systematized 
instruction  was  provided  for  a  girl;  no  education  was 
deemed  necessary,  for  her  life  was  to  be  devoted  to  the 
household,  away  from  the  world  of  affairs.  But  though 
there  were  no  schools  for  maidens  to  attend,  reading  and 
writing  and  the  fundamentals  of  knowledge  were  regularly 
imparted  by  a  loving  mother  or  a  faithful  nurse.  The 
frescoed  walls  made  the  girls  acquainted  with  the  stories 
of  mythology,  and  music  and  the  recitation  of  poetry  were 


THE  ATHENIAN  WOMAN  163 

frequent  sources  of  instruction  and  recreation  in  the  homes 
of  the  well-to-do.  The  maidens  were,  above  all,  made 
proficient  in  the  strictly  feminine  arts  of  housekeeping, 
spinning,  weaving,  and  embroidery.  They  were  rigidly 
excluded  from  any  intercourse  with  the  other  sex,  and 
their  contact  with  the  outside  world  was  confined  to  par- 
ticipation in  the  religious  festivals,  which  occupied  so  large 
a  part  in  the  everyday  life  of  the  Greeks.  "  When  I  was 
seven  years  of  age,"  says  the  chorus  of  Athenian  women  in 
the  Lysistrata  of  Aristophanes,  "  I  carried  the  mystic  box 
in  the  procession;  then,  when  I  was  ten,  I  ground  the  cakes 
for  our  patron  goddess;  and,  clad  in  a  saffron-colored  robe, 
I  was  the  bear  at  the  Brauronian  festival;  and  I  carried 
the  sacred  basket  when  I  became  a  beautiful  girl."  Such 
were  the  opportunities  granted  to  the  highborn  Athenian 
maiden  for  occasional  g'.impses  of  the  splendor  and  activity 
of  her  native  city;  and  can  we  doubt  that  on  such  occa- 
sions she  was  impressed  by  the  sublimity  of  the  temples 
and  works  of  art,  and  that  there  were  cast  many  modest 
glances  at  the  handsome  youths  on  horseback,  who,  in 
turn,  were  fascinated  by  the  beauty  and  freshness  of  these 
tenderly  nurtured  maidens? 

The  seclusion  of  Athenian  girls  and  the  careful  rearing 
which  they  received  at  the  hands  of  mothers  and  nurses 
were  such  as  to  fit  them  to  rule  the  home.  The  Athenian 
maiden  was  noted  throughout  Hellas  for  her  modesty  and 
sweetness.  The  intelligence  was  not  cultivated,  but  the 
heart  and  sensibilities  had  ample  scope  for  development 
in  the  duties  and  recreations  of  the  gynceconitis  and  in 
the  participation  in  religious  exercises.  Such  a  simple  and 
peaceful  rearing  tended  to  preserve  the  delicacy  of  the  soul 
and  to  keep  unstained  innocence  and  purity.  When  com- 
parison is  instituted  with  the  Spartan  system,  preference 
must  be  given  to  the  Athenian  method  of  education,  with 


164  WOMAN 

all  its  defects.  The  sweet  modesty  imparted  by  seclusion 
was  far  more  womanly  than  the  boldness  of  bearing  ac- 
quired by  athletic  exercises  in  the  presence  of  young  men. 
The  Spartan  system  trained  the  woman  for  public  life,  to 
be  the  patriotic  mother  of  warriors;  the  Athenian  system 
prepared  the  maiden  to  be  the  guardian  of  the  home,  the 
affectionate  and  devoted  mother. 

When  the  maiden  reached  the  age  of  fifteen,  her  parents 
began  negotiations  for  her  marriage.  An  Athenian  mar- 
riage was  essentially  a  matter  of  convenience,  and  was 
usually  arranged  by  contract  between  the  respective 
fathers  of  the  youth  and  maiden.  Equality  of  birth  and 
fortune  were  generally  the  chief  considerations  in  the 
selection  of  the  son-in-law  or  the  daughter-in-law;  and  in 
an  atmosphere  where  the  attractions  of  a  maiden  were 
so  little  known,  a  professional  matchmaker  frequently 
brought  the  interested  parties  together.  Thus  the  rustic 
Strepsiades,  in  Aristophanes's  Clouds,  expresses  the  wish 
that  the  feminine  matchmaker  had  perished  miserably 
who  had  induced  him  to  marry  the  haughty,  luxurious, 
citified  niece  of  aristocratic  Megacles,  son  of  Megacles. 

The  Homeric  custom  of  bringing  valuable  presents  or  of 
performing  valiant  deeds  to  win  a  maiden's  hand  had  long 
passed  away,  and,  in  the  great  days  of  Athens,  the  father 
had  to  provide  a  dowry  consisting  partly  of  cash,  partly 
of  clothes,  jewelry,  and  slaves.  Solon,  who,  as  Plutarch 
tells  us,  wished  to  have  marriages  contracted  from  motives 
of  pure  love  or  kind  affection,  and  to  further  the  birth  of 
children,  rather  than  for  mercenary  considerations,  decreed 
that  no  dowries  should  be  given  and  that  the  bride  should 
have  only  three  changes  of  clothes;  but  this  good  custom 
had  passed  away  with  the  era  of  simple  living.  So  dis- 
tinctly was  the  dowry  the  indispensable  condition  of  mar- 
riage, that  poor  girls  were  often  endowed  by  generous 


THE  ATHENIAN  WOMAN  165 

relatives,  or  the  State  itself  would  provide  a  wedding  por- 
tion for  the  daughters  of  men  deserving  well  of  their 
country.  For  example,  when  the  Athenians  heard  that 
the  granddaughter  of  Aristogiton,  the  Tyrannicide,  was  in 
needy  circumstances  in  the  isle  of  Lemnos,  and  was  so 
poor  that  nobody  would  marry  her,  they  brought  her 
back  to  Athens,  married  her  to  a  man  of  good  birth,  and 
gave  her  a  farm  at  Potamos  for  a  marriage  portion.  The 
dowry  was  generally  secured  to  the  wife  by  rigid  restric- 
tions; in  most  cases  of  separation,  the  dowry  reverted  to 
the  wife's  parents;  and  though  the  husband's  fortune 
might  be  confiscated,  the  marriage  portion  of  the  wife 
was  exempt. 

Of  the  ceremonies  and  formalities  of  marriage,  the 
solemn  betrothal  was  the  first  and  most  important,  as  it 
established  the  legalitv  of  the  union;  and  it  was  at  this 
ceremony  that  the  dowry  was  settled  upon  the  bride. 
In  the  presence  of  the  two  families,  the  father  of  the 
maiden  addressed  the  bridegroom  in  the  following  for- 
mula: "That  legitimate  children  may  be  born,  I  present 
you  my  daughter."  The  betrothed  then  exchanged  vows 
by  clasping  their  right  hands  or  by  embracing  each  other, 
and  the  maiden  received  a  gift  from  her  affianced  as  a 
token  of  love.  The  marriage  usually  followed  close  upon 
the  betrothal. 

The  favorite  month  for  the  ceremony  was  named  Game- 
lion,  or  the  "marriage  month";  this  included  part  of  our 
January  and  part  of  February.  On  the  eve  of  the  wed- 
ding, the  good  will  of  the  divinities  protecting  marriage, 
especially  Zeus  Teleios,  Hera  Teleia,  and  Artemis  Eukleia, 
was  invoked  by  prayer  and  sacrifices. 

Strange  to  say,  the  wedding  itself,  though  given  a  re- 
ligious character  by  its  attendant  ceremonies,  was  neither  a 
religious  nor  a  legal  act.  The  legality  of  the  marriage  was 


166  WOMAN 

established  by  the  betrothal,  while  its  religious  aspect  was 
found  solely  in  the  rites  in  honor  of  the  marriage  gods. 

A  second  ceremony,  universally  observed,  was  the  bridal 
bath,  taken  individually  by  both  bride  and  bridegroom 
previously  to  their  union.  In  Athens,  from  time  imme- 
morial, the  water  for  this  bath  was  taken  from  the  sacred 
fountain,  Callirrhoe,  called  since  its  enclosure  by  Pisis- 
tratus  "Enneacrunus,"  or  "the  Nine  Spouts."  Authori- 
ties differ  as  to  whether  a  boy  or  a  girl  served  as  water 
carrier  on  this  occasion;  but  the  latter  supposition  is  sup- 
ported by  an  archaic  picture  on  a  hydria,  representing  the 
holy  fountain  Callirrhoe  flowing  from  the  head  of  a  lion 
under  a  Doric  superstructure.  A  girl,  holding  in  her  hand 
branches  of  laurel  or  myrtle,  looks  musingly  down  on  a 
hydria,  which  is  being  filled  with  the  bridal  water.  Five 
other  maidens  are  grouped  about  the  fountain,  some  with 
empty  pitchers  awaiting  their  turn,  others  about  to  go 
home  with  their  filled  pitchers.  No  doubt  it  is  in  the 
month  of  marriage,  and  many  maidens  are  preparing  for 
the  happy  event. 

On  the  wedding  day,  toward  dark,  a  feast  was  held  at 
the  parental  home,  at  which  were  gathered  all  the  bridal 
party — for  this  was  one  of  the  few  occasions  in  Athenian 
life  when  men  and  women  dined  together.  Here  the  bride 
and  groom  appeared,  clad  in  purple  and  crowned  with 
flowers  sacred  to  Aphrodite.  The  distinctive  mark  of  the 
bride  was  the  veil,  which  covered  her  head  and  partly 
concealed  her  face.  All  the  guests  wore  wreaths  in  honor 
of  the  joyous  event.  With  her  own  hand  the  bride  plucked 
the  poppies  and  sesame  which  were  to  crown  her  forehead, 
for  it  would  have  been  an  ill  omen  to  wear  a  nuptial  wreath 
that  had  been  purchased. 

Soon  the  banquet  is  concluded  with  libations  and  prayer, 
just  as  night  begins  to  fall.  Then  the  bride  leaves  the 


THE  ATHENIAN  WOMAN  167 

festively  adorned  parental  home,  and  takes  her  place  in 
a  chariot,  between  the  bridegroom  and  his  best  man,  for 
the  wedding  journey  to  her  new  abode.  The  place  of 
honor  in  the  procession  that  follows  is  held  by  the  bride's 
mother,  who  walks  behind  the  chariot,  carrying  the  wed- 
ding torches,  which  have  been  kindled  at  the  family  hearth, 
that  the  bride  may  have  the  sacred  fire  of  her  own  home 
continued  in  her  new  dwelling.  The  festal  company  join 
in  singing  the  wedding  song  to  Hymenaeus  to  the  sound  of 
flutes  as  the  chariot  leads  slowly  toward  the  bridegroom's 
house.  At  the  close  of  the  Birds  of  Aristophanes,  when 
occurs  the  wedding  of  Pisthetasrus  and  Basileia,  the  chorus 
attends  the  wedded  pair  with  the  following  lines: 


"  Jupiter,  that  god  sublime, 
When  the  Fates  in  former  time 
Matched  him  with  the  Queen  of  Heaven 
At  a  solemn  banquet  given, 
Such  a  feast  was  held  above, 
And  the  charming  God  of  Love 
Being  present  in  command, 
As  a  bridegroom  took  his  stand 
With  the  golden  reins  in  hand, 
Hymen,  Hymen,  Ho !" 


The  new  home,  like  that  of  the  bride's  father,  is  adorned 
with  garlands  of  laurel  and  ivy — the  laurel  for  the  husband, 
as  the  symbol  of  victory,  and  the  delicate  and  graceful  ivy 
for  the  bride,  embodying  her  attachment  for  her  husband, 
as  that  of  the  ivy  for  the  sturdy  oak.  At  the  door,  the 
bridegroom's  mother  is  awaiting  the  young  couple,  with 
the  burning  torches  in  her  hand.  As  the  spouses  enter, 
a  shower  of  sweetmeats  is  poured  upon  their  heads,  partly 
in  jest,  partly  to  symbolize  the  abundance  and  prosperity 
invoked  upon  them.  To  typify  the  bride's  new  duties  as 
mistress  of  the  house,  a  pestle  used  for  bruising  corn  has 


1 68  WOMAN 

been  hung  up  near  the  bridal  chamber;  and  in  conformity 
to  another  custom,  prevailing  since  the  days  of  Solon,  she 
is  expected  to  eat  a  quince,  which  was  considered  to  be 
a  symbol  of  fruitfulness.  Soon  the  bridegroom's  mother 
attends  the  couple  to  the  thalamos,  or  nuptial  chamber, 
where,  for  the  first  time,  the  bride  unveils  herself  to  her 
husband.  Meanwhile,  before  the  door,  the  bride's  attend- 
ants, crowned  with  hyacinth,  join  in  the  epithalamium,  or 
marriage  hymn,  a  characteristic  specimen  of  which  we 
possess  in  the  bridal  hymn  to  Helen,  by  Theocritus: 

"Slumberest  so  soon,  sweet  bridegroom? 
Art  thou  overfond  of  sleep? 
Or  hast  thou  leaden-weighted  limbs? 
Or  hast  thou  drunk  too  deep 
When  thou  didst  fling  thee  to  thy  lair? 
Betimes  thou  shouldst  have  sped, 
If  sleep  were  all  thy  purpose, 
Unto  thy  bachelor's  bed, 
And  left  her  in  her  mother's  arms, 
To  nestle  and  to  play, 
A  girl  among  her  girlish  mates, 
Till  deep  into  the  day : — 
For  not  alone  for  this  night, 
Nor  for  the  next  alone, 
But  through  the  days  and  through  the  years 
Thou  hast  her  for  thine  own." 


And  it  ends  thus: 


"Sleep  on,  and  love  and  longing 
Breathe  in  each  other's  breast, 
But  fail  not  when  the  morn  returns 
To  rouse  you  from  your  rest ; 
With  dawn  shall  we  be  stirring, 
When,  lifting  high  his  fair 
And  feathered  neck,  the  earliest  bird 
To  clarion  to  the  dawn  is  heard. 
O  God  of  brides  and  bridals, 
Sing, '  Happy,  happy  pair !' " 


THE  ATHENIAN  WOMAN  169 

A  fragment  of  Anacreon  has  preserved  for  us  an  example 
of  the  morning  nuptial  chant,  sung  by  the  chorus  to  greet 
the  bride  and  groom  on  their  awakening: 

"Aphrodite,  queen  of  goddesses;  Love,  powerful  con- 
queror; Hymen,  source  of  life:  it  is  of  you  that  I  sing  in 
my  verses.  'Tis  of  you  I  chant,  Love,  Hymen,  and  Aph- 
rodite. Behold,  young  man,  behold  thy  wife!  Arise,  O 
Straticlus,  favored  of  Aphrodite,  husband  of  Myrilla,  ad- 
mire thy  bride!  Her  freshness,  her  grace,  her  charms, 
make  her  shine  among  all  women.  The  rose  is  queen  of 
flowers;  Myrilla  is  a  rose  midst  her  companions.  Mayst 
thou  see  grow  in  thy  house  a  son  like  to  thee!" 

Then  begins  a  second  fete  day  for  the  bridal  pair.  Hus- 
band and  wife  receive  visits  and  gifts  from  relatives  and 
friends,  and  exchange  presents  with  each  other.  The 
festivities  are  concluded  with  a  banquet  in  the  husband's 
home,  at  which  the  wife's  position  in  the  clan  of  her 
husband's  family  is  recognized;  and  she  may  now  appear 
without  her  veil,  as  the  mistress  of  her  new  home. 

Wedding  scenes  are  frequently  the  subject  of  illustra- 
tion in  antique  art.  The  most  remarkable  of  these  is  the 
splendid  wall  painting  known  as  the  Aldobrandini  Wed- 
ding, preserved  in  the  Vatican.  It  represents,  painted 
on  one  surface,  three  different  scenes  of  the  marriage 
ceremony.  The  central  picture  represents  a  chamber  of 
the  gyruzconitis,  where  the  bride,  chastely  veiled,  reclines 
on  a  beautiful  couch;  "  Peitho,  the  goddess  of  persuasion, 
sits  by  her  side,  as  appears  from  the  crown  on  her  head 
and  from  the  many-folded  peplus  falling  over  her  back. 
She  pleads  the  bridegroom's  cause,  and  seems  to  encour- 
age the  timorous  maiden.  A  third  female  figure,  to  the 
left  of  the  group,  leaning  on  a  piece  of  a  column,  seems  to 
expect  the  girl's  surrender;  for  she  is  pouring  ointment 
from  an  alabastron  into  a  vase  made  of  shell,  so  as  to  have 


170  WOMAN 

it  ready  for  use  after  the  bridal  bath.  Most  likely  she 
represents  the  second  handmaiden  of  Aphrodite,  Charis, 
who,  according  to  the  myth,  bathed  and  anointed  her  mis- 
tress with  ambrosial  oil  in  the  holy  grove  of  Paphos.  The 
pillar  at  the  back  of  Charis  indicates  the  partition  wall 
between  this  chamber  and  the  one  next  to  it  on  the  left. 
We  here  see  a  large  basin  filled  with  water,  standing  on 
a  columnar  base.  The  water  is  perhaps  that  of  the  well 
Callirrhoe,  fetched  by  the  young  girl  standing  close  by  for 
the  nuptial  bath.  The  girl  seems  to  look  inquiringly  at  the 
matronly  figure  approaching  the  basin  on  the  other  side, 
and  putting  her  fingers  into  the  water  as  if  to  test  its 
warmth.  Her  sublime  form  and  priestly  dress,  together 
with  the  leaf-shaped  instrument  in  her  hand  (probably 
the  instrument  used  at  lustrations),  seem  to  portray  her 
as  Hera  Teleia,  the  protecting  goddess  of  marriage,  in  the 
act  of  examining  and  blessing  the  bridal  bath.  The  third 
scene  of  the  picture  is  placed  at  the  entrance  of  the  bride's 
house.  The  bridegroom,  crowned  with  vine  branches,  is 
sitting  on  the  threshold,  as  if  listening  impatiently  for  the 
close  of  the  ceremony  inside  the  house.  In  front  of  him 
is  a  group  of  three  maidens,  one  of  whom  seems  to  be 
making  an  offering  at  a  portable  altar,  while  the  other 
two  begin  the  hymenasus  to  the  accompaniment  of  the 
cithara." 

With  the  completion  of  the  marriage  ceremonies,  the 
maiden  has  passed  from  the  gynceconitis  of  her  father  to 
that  of  her  husband;  but,  though  still  under  masculine 
control,  she  is  absolute  mistress  of  her  limited  sphere;  yet 
she  is  expected  to  refrain  from  manifesting  interest  in  the 
public  affairs  of  her  husband  and  to  confine  her  attention 
to  her  domestic  duties. 

"  Good  women  must  abide  within  the  house ; 
Those  whom  we  meet  abroad  are  nothing  worth," 


THE  ATHENIAN  WOMAN  171 

writes  the  poet;  and  this  couplet  expresses  the  Athenian 
husband's  idea  of  the  wife's  proper  sphere  of  activity. 
His  life  is  essentially  an  outdoor  one.  The  market  place, 
the  law  courts,  the  numerous  colonnades,  are  the  centres 
of  his  activity,  where  he  passes  his  time  in  attending  to 
business,  in  discussing  politics,  in  telling  or  hearing  some 
new  thing.  His  recreations  consist  in  visiting  the  pakestrce 
or  the  gymnasia,  the  clubhouses  of  ancient  Greece,  and  in 
participating  with  his  chosen  friends  in  banquets  at  which 
beautiful  flute  players  and  cultivated  hetserse  afford  pastime 
and  amusement.  He  passes  but  little  time  at  home. 

Meanwhile,  the  wife  superintends  the  slaves  and  assigns 
them  their  several  duties;  she  looks  after  the  stores,  uten- 
sils, and  furnishings  of  the  household;  she  presides  over 
the  kitchen;  she  nurses  the  sick;  and,  above  all,  she  de- 
votes her  attention  to  the  careful  rearing  of  the  children, 
whose  prattle  breaks  the  otherwise  monotonous  existence 
of  the  women's  apartments.  Occasionally,  she  visits  her 
friends,  or  receives  them  in  her  house;  but  the  gathering 
of  women  was  discouraged  by  the  husbands,  who  believed 
the  effect  of  gossip  to  be  matrimonial  discontent. 

Religious  ceremonies  occupied  a  large  part  of  feminine 
life,  and  women  over  sixty  might  attend  any  funerals  to 
which  inclination  called  them;  and  funerals  among  the 
Greeks,  save  in  isolated  cases,  were  not  hopelessly  solemn 
affairs.  These  elderly  women  were  also  privileged  to  at- 
tend memorial  exercises  in  honor  of  the  distinguished  dead, 
and  it  was  on  an  occasion  such  as  this  that  Thucydides  puts 
into  the  mouth  of  Pericles  the  famous  dictum,  expressing  so 
aptly  the  Athenian  conception  of  the  ideal  woman:  "The 
best  wife  is  the  one  of  whom  the  least  is  said,  either  of 
good  or  evil."  The  tortoise  was  the  symbol  of  feminine 
life — the  creature  that  never  goes  out  of  her  shell.  Ly- 
curgus  draws  a  dramatic  picture  of  the  receipt  of  the  news 


1/2  WOMAN 

at  Athens  of  the  fateful  day  at  Chaeronea,  when  the  Athe- 
nian women  stood  in  the  doors  of  their  houses,  making 
inquiries  concerning  husbands  and  brothers  and  fathers, 
but  not,  as  might  have  been  expected,  gathering  in  the 
streets  to  discuss  the  terrible  tidings. 

Although  their  opportunities  for  social  life  were  so 
limited,  the  Athenian  women  devoted  much  time  to  their 
toilet.  Bathing  was  a  daily  habit,  and  was  attended  by 
anointing  with  oils  and  fragrant  essences.  The  dignity 
and  grace  of  Athenian  dress  are  admirably  illustrated  by 
the  drapery  of  the  female  forms  which  support  the  roof 
of  the  southern  portico  of  the  Erechtheum.  The  tunic, 
with  its  overhanging  dipkris,  fastened  round  the  hips  by 
means  of  a  girdle,  was  gracefully  arranged  in  symmetrical 
folds.  Linen  was  usually  the  material  employed,  and  white 
was  the  favorite  color  among  modest  Greek  women;  yet 
particolored  Oriental  garments  were  also  worn.  Dresses 
were  frequently  adorned  with  inwoven  patterns  and  at- 
tached borders  and  embroideries.  The  outer  garment  was 
the  mantle,  or  peplos,  shaped  like  a  shawl  and  capable  of  a 
variety  of  picturesque  drapings.  The  headdress  of  women 
was  simple.  Hats  were  not  worn,  except  on  journeys, 
and,  beyond  the  customary  veil,  the  chief  ornament  was  a 
band  for  holding  together  the  plentiful  hair.  This  was 
frequently  knotted  at  the  top  of  the  head  and  fastened  by 
pins  of  gold  and  silver,  the  tops  of  which  were  shaped  like 
the  pineapple  or  the  lotus  flower;  sometimes  the  front  hair 
was  arranged  in  small  ringlets,  while  the  back  hair  partly 
fell  smoothly  over  the  neck,  and  partly  descended  below 
the  shoulders  in  long  curls.  Frequently,  ribbons  were  used 
to  bind  the  hair,  adorned,  where  it  rested  on  the  forehead, 
with  a  plaque  of  metal  formed  like  a  frontal,  called  the 
stephane;  or  a  band  of  cloth  or  leather  was  used,  broad 
in  the  centre  and  growing  narrower  at  the  ends,  styled 


THE  ATHENIAN  WOMAN  173 

sphendone  from  its  similarity  to  a  sling.  Sandals  were 
the  usual  form  of  footwear,  and  variety  was  given  by  the 
length  and  graceful  folding  of  the  straps.  Exquisite  sim- 
plicity was  also  seen  in  the  jewelry.  The  chief  ornament 
was  the  necklace;  these  were  sometimes  composed  of 
balls  of  gold  and  garnets  intermingled,  or  of  emeralds 
alternating  with  fine  pearls  and  attached  by  little  chains. 
Bracelets  owe  their  Greek  name  to  the  form  they  were 
generally  given — that  of  a  serpent.  They  were  usually 
worn  on  the  wrist,  sometimes  on  the  upper  arm,  and  some- 
times even  about  the  ankle.  At  times,  bracelets  were 
merely  circlets  of  gold.  Sometimes  they  were  adorned 
with  medallions  at  intervals,  sometimes  they  were  set  with 
emeralds,  garnets,  or  pearls.  The  ear-rings  were  of  grace- 
ful form,  sometimes  representing  a  swan  in  black  enamel, 
with  bill,  wings,  feet,  and  tail  of  gold,  sometimes  a  dove  on 
a  delicate  pedestal,  a  bunch  of  grapes  with  a  golden  stem, 
or  a  sphinx,  or  a  panther's  head.  The  clasps  or  buckles 
which  bound  the  tunic  or  the  peplus,  usually  shaped  in 
the  form  of  an  arc,  exhibited  rare  beauty.  Rings,  set  with 
carnelian,  agate,  sardonyx,  amethyst,  and  other  gems, 
and  brooches  of  every  variety,  completed  the  ornaments 
in  the  jewel  cases  of  the  Athenian  women. 

In  disclosing  the  secrets  of  the  Athenian  toilet,  love  of 
truth  compels  us  to  state  that  these  fair  dames  had  recourse 
to  the  use  of  cosmetics,  perhaps  to  overcome  the  paleness 
of  complexion  incident  to  lack  of  outdoor  life.  Cheeks 
and  lips  were  given  a  ruddy  hue  by  the  use  of  minium, 
or  the  root  of  the  alkanet;  eyebrows  were  darkened  by 
applying  pulverized  antimony;  and  dark  hair  could  be 
changed  to  blonde  by  the  use  of  a  certain  powder,  which 
gave  a  golden  tint,  much  sung  of  by  poets. 

When  one  reads  of  the  great  attention  paid  by  the 
Athenian  women  to  the  cultivation  of  grace  of  form,  of 


174  WOMAN 

taste  in  dress,  and  of  beauty  of  feature,  it  is  hard  to 
realize  that  such  charms  were  confined  to  the  women's 
apartments,  and  merely  revealed  themselves  to  the  out- 
side world  on  festive  occasions. 

Though  the  gallantry  of  modern  times  was  not  a  part 
of  the  habitual  equipment  of  an  Athenian  gentleman,  yet 
he  was  very  careful  as  to  his  behavior  in  the  presence 
of  ladies.  There  was  strict  observance  of  the  etiquette 
which  controlled  the  relations  of  the  sexes.  No  gentle- 
man would  enter  an  abode  of  women  in  the  absence  of 
the  master,  and  unbecoming  language  in  the  presence 
of  women  was  a  gross  offence.  The  husband  carefully 
abstained  in  his  wife's  presence  from  doing  anything  that 
might  lower  her  estimation  of  his  dignity.  A  certain  dis- 
tance was  apparently  maintained  between  married  persons, 
and  cordial  familiarity  was  sometimes  sacrificed  to  love 
of  social  forms.  No  doubt,  too,  fine  breeding  and  true 
courtesy  were  generally  shown  the  wife  and  ruler  of  his 
home  by  the  Athenian  husband  who,  like  Agathon  in  the 
Symposium  of  Plato,  exhibited  the  most  delicate  tact  and 
sentiment  in  his  treatment  of  men. 

In  the  peaceful  atmosphere  of  the  home,  the  Athenian 
gentlewoman  was  expected  to  live  an  irreproachable  life. 
Infidelity  on  the  part  of  the  husband  was  regarded  as  a 
venial  offence,  but  the  wife  who  violated  her  marriage 
vows  was  punished  with  the  most  terrible  disgrace.  Should 
she  marry  again,  the  man  who  ventured  to  wed  her  was 
disfranchised.  She  was  to  all  intents  and  purposes  an  out- 
cast from  society.  If  she  appeared  in  a  temple,  she  might 
be  subjected  to  any  indignity  short  of  death.  Further- 
more, a  man  could  divorce  his  wife  on  the  slightest  pre- 
text; while  the  wife,  to  obtain  a  divorce,  was  compelled  to 
lodge  with  the  archon  a  complaint  against  her  husband 
and  a  prayer  for  the  return  of  her  dowry,  and  in  the 


THE  ATHENIAN  WOMAN  175 

ensuing  process  she  was  subjected  to  many  delays  and 
inconveniences.  Then,  as  she  was  still  a  minor  in  the 
eyes  of  the  law,  a  wife  who  had  left  her  husband  was 
obliged  to  return  to  a  state  of  tutelage  under  her  father 
or  brother;  and  many  a  suffering  wife  endured  in  silence 
neglect  or  ill  usage  rather  than  thus  return  to  her  father's 
control.  Yet  many  a  high-spirited  woman  revolted  against 
the  infidelities  of  her  husband.  The  saddest  incident  of 
this  marital  inequality  that  we  find  in  Greek  literature 
is  the  story  of  Alcibiades's  wife,  Hipparete,  and  her  case 
shows  how  difficult  it  was  for  a  wife  to  assert  her  rights. 
Hipparete's  early  death  leaves  on  the  reader  the  impres- 
sion that  her  heart  was  broken  by  her  brilliant  husband's 
inconstancy  and  brutality. 

"Hipparete,"  writes  Plutarch,  "was  a  virtuous  and 
dutiful  wife,  but  at  last  growing  impatient  because  of  the 
outrages  done  to  her  by  her  husband's  continual  enter- 
taining of  heterae,  strangers  as  well  as  Athenians,  she 
departed  from  him  and  retired  to  her  brother's  house. 
Alcibiades  seemed  not  at'  all  concerned  at  this,  and  lived 
on  still  in  the  same  luxury;  but  the  law  required  that 
she  should  deliver  to  the  archon,  in  person,  and  not  by 
proxy,  the  instrument  by  which  she  claimed  a  divorce; 
and  when,  in  obedience  thereto,  she  presented  her- 
self before  the  archon  to  perform  this,  Alcibiades  came 
in,  caught  her  up,  and  carried  her  home  through  the 
market  place,  no  one  daring  to  oppose  him  or  to  take  her 
from  him.  She  continued  with  him  till  her  death,  which 
happened  not  long  after,  when  Alcibiades  had  gone  to 
Ephesus." 

We  find  in  Xenophon's  remarkable  treatise  on  Domestic 
Economy  an  interesting  description  of  the  method  pursued 
by  a  model  Greek  gentleman  in  training  for  her  domestic 
duties  his  young  wife,  a  tender  girl  of  fifteen,  reared  under 


1/6  WOMAN 

the  strictest  restraint  to  the  end  that  she  might  "see  as 
little,  hear  as  little,  and  ask  as  few  questions  as  possible." 

He  was  not  content  that  his  young  wife  should  simply 
know  the  ordinary  household  duties  of  spinning  and 
weaving,  and  directing  her  maid,  but  he  wished  to  educate 
her  so  that  she  might  have  larger  conceptions  of  her 
sphere  as  well  as  the  ability  to  understand  what  was  de- 
sirable for  the  happiness  of  both.  The  account  which  the 
model  husband,  Ischomachus,  gives  in  his  dialogue  with 
Socrates  of  his  experience  in  wife  training  throws  many 
sidelights  on  the  marriage  relations  of  the  Athenians  and 
the  philosophy  of  their  system.  As  soon  as  the  child-wife 
was  properly  domesticated,  so  that  she  dared  to  converse 
freely,  her  husband  began  to  talk  to  her  of  their  mutual 
responsibilities  and  to  inculcate  those  lessons  which  would 
be  to  their  mutual  advantage.  She  was  now,  he  goes  on, 
the  mistress  of  his  house;  henceforth  everything  should 
be  theirs  in  common — the  caring  for  their  fortune,  as  well 
as  the  education  of  the  children  whom  the  gods  might 
grant  them.  He  will  never  question  which  of  them  has 
done  the  more  to  increase  their  common  store,  but  each 
shall  strive  to  contribute  largely  to  that  fortune. 

The  young  wife,  in  her  astonishment  at  such  words, 
asks:  "  How  can  I  help  you  in  this,  or  wherein  can  the 
little  power  I  have  do  you  any  good?  For  my  mother  told 
me  that  both  my  fortune  as  well  as  yours  was  wholly  at 
your  command,  and  that  it  must  be  my  chief  care  to  live 
virtuously  and  soberly." 

ISCHOMACHUS. — This  is  true,  good  wife;  but  it  is  the 
part  of  a  sober  husband  and  virtuous  wife  not  only  to  pre- 
serve the  fortune  they  are  possessed  of,  but  to  contribute 
equally  to  improve  it. 

WIFE. — And  what  do  you  see  in  me  that  you  believe  me 
capable  of  assisting  in  the  improvement  of  your  fortune? 


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THE  ATHENIAN  WOMAN  177 

ISCHOMACHUS. — Use  your  endeavor,  good  wife,  to  do 
those  things  which  are  acceptable  to  the  gods  and  are 
appointed  by  the  law  for  you  to  do. 

WIFE. — And  what  are  those  things,  dear  husband? 

Ischomachus  then  enumerates  the  things  which  are 
acceptable  to  the  gods  and  appointed  by  the  law,  and  de- 
termines the  limits  which  separate  the  duties  of  man  from 
those  of  woman.  He  says:  "  The  wisdom  of  the  divinity 
has  prepared  the  union  of  the  two  sexes,  and  has  made  of 
marriage  an  association  useful  to  each  one, — a  union  which 
will  secure  for  them,  in  their  children,  support  in  their 
old  age. 

"It  is  man's  duty  to  acquire  food,  to  be  busied  with 
field  work,  to  care  for  flocks,  and  to  defend  himself  against 
enemies.  Therefore  the  god  has  given  him  strength  and 
courage.  The  woman  must  care  for  and  prepare  the  food, 
weave  garments,  and  rear  the  children.  Therefore  the 
god  has  given  her  a  delicate  physique  which  will  keep  her 
in  the  home,  an  exquisite  tenderness  of  heart  which  brings 
about  her  maternal  care  and  love  and  a  watchful  vigilance 
for  the  safety  of  her  little  ones. 

"Since  they  are  united  for  their  common  advantage, 
they  are  endowed  with  the  same  faculties  of  memory  and 
diligence.  Both  are  endowed  with  the  same  force  of  soul 
to  refrain  from  things  harmful,  and  the  one  who  practises 
this  virtue  the  more  has,  by  the  grace  of  the  divinity,  the 
better  recompense.  However,"  he  adds,  "as  they  are 
not  equally  perfect,  they  have  the  more  occasion  for  each 
other's  assistance;  for  when  man  and  woman  are  thus 
united,  what  the  one  has  occasion  for  is  supplied  by  the 
other." 

Ischomachus  then  shows  that  in  well  performing  their 
respective  functions  husband  and  wife  conform  them- 
selves to  the  rules  of  the  good  and  the  beautiful.  If  the 


178  WOMAN 

wife  leave  the  home,  or  the  husband  remain  there,  he  or 
she  is  violating  the  laws  of  nature.  He  compares  the 
duties  of  the  wife  to  those  of  the  queen  bee,  which,  with- 
out leaving  the  hive,  extends  her  activity  around  her, 
sends  others  to  the  field,  receives  and  stores  away  pro- 
visions as  they  are  brought,  watches  over  the  construction 
of  cells,  and  brings  up  the  little  bees. 

There  is  one  duty  of  which  he  tells  her  with  hesitation 
— the  caring  for  the  slaves  when  they  may  be  ill.  But 
to  his  great  joy  she  responds:  "  That  is  surely  an  act  of 
charity,  and  becoming  every  good-natured  mistress,  for 
we  cannot  oblige  people  more  than  by  helping  them  when 
they  are  sick.  This  will  surely  engage  the  love  of  our 
servants  to  us  and  make  them  doubly  diligent  to  us  on 
every  occasion." 

He  answers:  "By  reason  of  the  good  care  and  tender- 
ness of  the  queen  bee,  all  the  rest  of  the  hive  are  so 
affectionate  to  her,  that  whenever  she  is  disposed  to  go 
abroad  the  whole  colony  belonging  to  her  accompany  and 
attend  upon  their  queen." 

The  thought  of  being  queen  startles  the  young  girl, 
whose  education  has  taught  her  that  passive  obedience 
is  the  first  duty  of  a  wife.  Her  husband  has  placed  in  her 
hands  a  sceptre  which  she  thinks  herself  unable  to  wield. 
She  therefore  says: 

"Dear  Ischomachus,  tell  me,  is  not  the  business  of  the 
mistress  bee  what  you  ought  to  do  rather  than  myself?  or 
have  you  not  a  share  in  it?  For  my  keeping  at  home  and 
directing  my  servants  will  be  of  little  account,  unless  you 
send  home  such  provisions  as  are  necessary  to  employ  us." 

ISCHOMACHUS. — And  my  providence  would  be  of  little 
use,  unless  there  is  one  at  home  who  is  ready  to  receive 
and  take  care  of  those  goods  that  I  send  home.  Have  you 
not  observed  what  pity  people  show  to  those  who  are 


THE  ATHENIAN  WOMAN  179 

punished  by  being  sentenced  to  pour  water  into  sieves 
until  they  are  full?  The  occasion  of  pity  is  because  those 
people  labor  in  vain. 

WIFE. — I  esteem  those  people  to  be  truly  miserable  who 
have  no  benefit  from  their  labors. 

ISCHOMACHUS. — Suppose,  dear  wife,  you  take  into 
your  service  one  who  can  neither  card  nor  spin,  and  you 
teach  her  to  do  those  things,  will  it  not  be  an  honor  to 
you?  Or  if  you  take  a  servant  who  is  negligent  and  does 
not  understand  how  to  do  her  business,  or  has  been  given 
to  pilfering,  and  you  make  her  diligent  and  instruct  her 
in  the  manners  of  a  good  servant,  and  teach  her  honesty, 
will  you  not  rejoice  in  your  success,  and  will  you  not  be 
pleased  with  your  action?  So,  when  you  see  your  ser- 
vants sober  and  discreet,  you  should  encourage  and  show 
them  favor.  But  those  who  are  incorrigible  and  will  not 
follow  your  directions  you  must  punish.  Consider  how 
laudable  it  will  be  for  you  to  excel  others  in  the  well- 
ordering  of  your  house.  Be  therefore  diligent,  virtuous, 
and  modest,  and  give  your  necessary  attendance  on  me, 
your  children,  and  your  house,  and  your  name  shall  be 
honorably  esteemed,  even  after  your  death;  for  it  is  not 
the  beauty  of  your  face  and  form,  but  your  virtue  and 
goodness,  which  will  bring  you  honor  and  esteem  that  will 
last  forever." 

Thus  does  he  conclude  his  first  discourse  with  his  wife 
on  the  subject  of  her  duties,  and  she  is  diligent  to  learn 
and  to  practise  what  has  been  taught  her.  When,  a  little 
later,  he  asks  her  to  find  him  a  parcel  which  he  had 
brought  home,  and  she,  with  flushed  cheeks  and  troubled 
look,  has  to  confess  that  she  is  unable  to  find  it,  he  takes 
this  occasion  to  talk  to  her  on  order  and  harmony  in  all 
things.  He  tells  her  not  to  be  grieved  over  her  failure  to 
find  the  parcel,  as  it  is  his  fault  for  not  having  assigned  a 


180  WOMAN 

definite  place  for  each  thing.  He  shows  her  how  every- 
thing is  perfectly  arranged  in  a  chorus,  in  a  large  army, 
and  in  the  crew  of  a  vessel,  that  all  may  be  done  harmo- 
niously and  in  order.  "  Let  us  therefore  fix  upon  a  proper 
place  where  our  stores  may  be  laid  up,  not  only  in  security, 
but  where  they  may  be  so  disposed  that  we  may  know 
where  to  look  for  every  particular  thing.  By  this  means, 
we  shall  know  what  we  gain  and  what  we  lose;  and  in 
surveying  our  storehouses,  we  shall  be  able  to  judge  what 
is  necessary  to  be  brought  in  or  what  may  want  repairing 
and  what  will  be  impaired  by  keeping."  With  the  sim- 
plicity natural  to  men  of  high  intelligence,  he  does  not 
hesitate  to  confess  that  he  finds  beauty  even  in  kitchen 
utensils  orderly  arranged. 

The  young  wife  is  enchanted  at  his  idea,  and  they  go 
through  the  house  assigning  a  place  for  each  thing;  they 
distribute  duties  to  the  slaves,  and  give  them  other  instruc- 
tions, with  the  endeavor  to  win  their  affections  and  elevate 
their  characters.  Ischomachus  then  tells  her  that  all  care 
will  be  useless  if  the  mistress  of  the  house  do  not  watch  to 
see  that  the  established  order  is  not  disturbed.  Comparing 
her  to  magistrates  who  make  the  laws  of  a  city  respected, 
he  adds:  "This,  dear  wife,  I  chiefly  commend  to  you, 
that  you  may  look  upon  yourself  as  chief  overseer  of  the 
laws  within  our  house." 

He  tells  her  that  it  is  within  her  jurisdiction  to  oversee 
everything  in  the  house,  as  a  garrison  commander  inspects 
his  soldiers;  that  she  has  as  great  power  in  her  own  home 
as  a  queen,  to  distribute  rewards  to  the  virtuous  and  dili- 
gent and  to  punish  those  who  deserve  it.  He  desires  her 
not  to  be  displeased  that  he  has  intrusted  more  to  her  than 
to  any  of  the  servants,  for  they  have  not  the  same  in- 
centive to  preserve  those  things  which  are  not  their  own 
but  hers. 


THE  ATHENIAN  WOMAN  l8l 

Up  to  this  time,  it  is  the  loving  and  inexperienced  child 
who  has  been  conversing  with  her  husband.  Now,  it  is 
the  woman,  the  mistress  of  the  house,  who  says: 

"  It  would  have  been  a  great  grief  to  me  if,  instead  of 
those  good  rules  you  instruct  me  in  for  the  welfare  of  our 
house,  you  had  directed  me  to  have  no  regard  to  the  pos- 
sessions I  am  endowed  with;  for  as  it  is  natural  for  a  good 
woman  to  be  careful  and  diligent  about  her  own  children 
rather  than  to  have  a  disregard  for  them,  so  it  is  no  less 
agreeable  and  pleasant  to  a  woman,  who  has  any  share  of 
sense,  to  look  after  the  affairs  of  her  family  rather  than 
to  neglect  them." 

The  great  Socrates  admires  much  the  wisdom  of  his 
friend's  wife,  and  adds,  asking  Ischomachus  to  continue 
the  narrative:  "It  is  far  more  delightful  to  hear  the  vir- 
tuous woman  described  than  if  the  famous  painter  Zeuxis 
were  to  show  me  the  portrait  of  the  fairest  woman  in  the 
world." 

This  dialogue  between  husband  and  wife  is  doubtless 
typical  of  the  relations  between  married  couples  in  the 
Athenian  household,  and  in  the  girl-wife  one  may  recognize 
the  innocence  and  ingenuousness  of  the  average  maiden  of 
fifteen  transferred  from  the  seclusion  of  her  girlhood  life 
at  home  to  the  seclusion  of  married  life  in  her  husband's 
house.  It  is  noticeable  that  in  the  training  provided  by 
Ischomachus  no  provision  whatever  is  made  for  intellectual 
discipline,  or  for  social  obligations,  which  leaves  the  reader 
to  infer  that  the  career  of  the  wife  was  to  be  a  purely 
domestic  one,  and  that  her  aspirations  must  be  confined 
within  the  walls  of  her  house. 

While  such  implicit  obedience  was  the  rule,  however, 
there  were  notable  exceptions  to  such  ingenuousness  on 
the  part  of  the  wife,  and  there  were  doubtless  many 
instances  where  the  wife  was  the  ruling  power  of  the 


1 82  WOMAN 

household  because  of  mental  superiority,  domineering  dis- 
position, or  amount  of  dower.  Human  nature  is  much  the 
same  the  world  over,  and  strong  personality  in  women 
demanded  expression  in  ancient  as  well  as  in  modern 
times.  It  is  also  true  that  there  were  instances  of  beauti- 
ful affection  between  husband  and  wife,  though  the  fact 
that  such  were  much  talked  of  proves  that  conjugal  love 
was  the  exception,  not  the  rule. 

It  is  a  pity  that  we  do  not  know  more  of  the  wives  and 
sisters  and  mothers  of  great  Athenians,  as  the  few  of 
whom  we  know  are  of  unusual  interest.  Many  wives 
enjoyed  the  hearty  admiration  and  companionship  of  their 
husbands.  Cimon,  in  spite  of  occasional  lapses  on  his 
part,  had  an  unusually  passionate  affection  for  his  wife, 
Isodice,  and  was  filled  with  bitterest  grief  at  her  death. 
Socrates  mentions  Niceratus  as  "  one  who  was  in  love 
with  his  wife  and  loved  by  her."  There  is  a  pleasing 
anecdote  of  Themistocles,  told  us  by  Plutarch,  which 
shows  where  in  his  household  lay  the  seat  of  authority. 
•"  Laughing  at  his  own  son,  who  got  his  mother,  and, 
through  his  mother,  his  father  also,  to  indulge  him,  he 
told  him  he  had  the  most  power  of  anyone  in  Greece, 
'for  the  Athenians  command  the  rest  of  Greece,  I  com- 
mand the  Athenians,  your  mother  commands  me,  and 
you  command  your  mother.'  " 

Plutarch  also  relates  of  the  great  statesman  that  of  two 
who  made  love  to  his  daughter,  he  preferred  the  man  of 
worth  to  the  one  who  was  rich,  saying  that  he  desired 
a  man  without  riches  rather  than  riches  without  a  man! 
The  most  pleasing,  however,  among  the  wives  of  great 
Athenians  is  the  wife  of  Phocion,  the  incorruptible,  as  she 
is  presented  to  us  in  the  pages  of  Plutarch.  The  latter 
describes  Phocion's  simple  way  of  living,  and  speaks  of 
his  wife  as  employed  in  kneading  bread  with  her  own 


THE  ATHENIAN  WOMAN  183 

hands."  "She  was,"  he  continues,  "renowned  no  less 
among  the  Athenians  for  her  virtues  and  simple  living 
than  was  Phocion  for  his  probity."  It  happened  once 
when  the  people  were  entertained  with  a  new  tragedy, 
that  the  actor,  as  he  was  about  to  enter  the  stage  to  per- 
form the  part  of  a  queen,  demanded  to  have  a  number  of 
attendants,  sumptuously  dressed,  to  follow  in  his  train; 
and  when  they  were  not  provided,  he  became  sullen  and 
refused  to  act,  keeping  the  audience  waiting,  till  at  last 
Melanthius,  who  had  to  furnish  the  chorus,  pushed  him 
on  the  stage,  crying  out:  "What!  don't  you  know  that 
Phocion 's  wife  is  never  attended  by  more  than  a  single 
waiting-woman,  but  you  must  needs  be  grand,  and  fill 
our  women's  heads  with  vanity?"  This  speech,  spoken 
loud  enough  to  be  heard,  was  received  with  great  ap- 
plause. Phocion 's  wife  herself  once  said  to  a  visitor  from 
Ionia,  who  showed  her  all  her  rich  ornaments  made  of 
gold  and  set  with  jewels,  her  wreaths,  necklaces,  and 
the  like:  "For  my  part,  all  my  ornament  is  my  husband 
Phocion,  now  for  the  twentieth  year  in  office  as  general 
at  Athens." 

Aristotle  said  many  things  which  are  quoted  as  sug- 
gesting his  low  estimate  of  the  weaker  sex,  but  he  loved 
with  great  tenderness  his  wife  Pythias,  niece  and  adopted 
daughter  of  his  friend  Hermias,  ruler  of  Atarneus  and 
Assos  in  Mysia.  When  she  died  after  a  few  brief  years 
of  wedded  life,  Aristotle  gave  directions  that  at  his  own 
death  the  two  bodies  should  be  placed  side  by  side  in  the 
same  tomb.  When  his  own  death  came,  he  left  behind  a 
second  wife,  Herpyllis,  whose  virtues  he  esteemed,  and  he 
besought  his  friends  to  care  for  her,  and  to  provide  her 
with  another  husband  should  she  wish  to  marry  again. 

These  instances  of  domestic  affection  dissolve  the  cold 
logic  of  rigid  theory,  and  prove  how,  in  spite  of  legislation 


1 84  WOMAN 

and  convention,  love  is  lord  of  all,  and  that  among  the 
Athenians  happy  married  life  was  not  unknown. 

Nor  was  the  strong-minded  woman  altogether  lacking 
in  Athens,  for  there  was  Elpinice,  sister  of  Cimon,  who, 
taking  the  Spartan  women  as  her  model,  went  about 
alone,  and  did  many  other  things  which  shocked  the  staid 
Athenian  matrons.  Unpleasant  remarks  were  made  about 
her — as  in  the  case  of  every  woman  who  defies  convention: 
among  them,  that  she  was  overintimate  with  Polygnotus 
the  painter,  who  portrayed  her  as  Laodice  in  his  fresco 
of  the  Trojan  women  in  the  Stoa  Poikile.  But  the  essence 
of  this  scandal  may  have  been  merely  that  she  served  the 
painter  as  a  model,  at  a  time  when  few  women  would 
have  dared  to  visit  an  artist's  studio.  To  her  brother 
Cimon  she  proved  a  devoted  sister.  Once,  when  he  was 
on  trial  for  his  life,  she  pleaded  with  Pericles  so  earnestly 
that  acquittal  was  the  result;  and  later  she  arranged  with 
this  great  rival  the  negotiations  that  led  to  Cimon's  return 
from  banishment.  So  lovable  was  she  that  Callias,  one 
of  the  richest  men  in  Athens,  fell  violently  in  love  with 
her,  and  offered  to  pay  the  fine  to  which  her  father  was 
condemned,  if  he  could  obtain  the  daughter  in  marriage; 
and  with  Elpinice's  own  consent,  Cimon  betrothed  her  to 
Callias. 

We  have  reserved  a  brief  consideration  of  the  best 
known  of  all  Athenian  women,  one  who  defies  all  our 
notions  regarding  the  prevailing  conventions — Xanthippe, 
wife  of  the  philosopher  Socrates.  From  all  accounts,  it 
seems  likely  that  she  was  an  aristocratic  lady,  in  reduced 
circumstances,  who  had  married  Socrates  when  advanced 
in  life,  she  herself  being  beyond  the  years  at  which  women 
usually  marry,  yet  a  score  of  years  younger  than  her  hus- 
band. Socrates  once  said  he  married  her  for  the  excite- 
ment of  conquest,  just  as  one  would  enjoy  the  breaking  of  a 


THE  ATHENIAN  WOMAN  185 

high-spirited  horse;  but,  at  any  rate,  the  philosopher  was 
worsted,  and  Xanthippe  ruled  the  household.  Xanthippe 
has  acquired  the  reputation  of  being  the  typical  scold 
of  antiquity.  Doubtless  this  reputation  is  not  without 
foundation,  yet  she  should  have  our  sympathy,  for  the 
strangest  and  most  difficult  of  husbands  fell  to  her  lot.  Her 
naturally  infirm  temper  must  have  been  tried  beyond  en- 
durance by  the  calm  unconcern  of  her  husband  toward  the 
domestic  problem  of  "making  both  ends  meet."  Ugly, 
careless  of  dress,  keeping  bad  company,  given  to  trances, 
utterly  neglectful  of  his  family — can  one  be  surprised  that 
the  wife  of  such  a  man  should  lose  all  patience  with  him, 
and  through  repeated  failures  to  improve  him  should  by 
degrees  become  an  arch  termagant?  Yet  the  stories  of 
Xanthippe's  temper  rest  on  uncertain  authority,  and  her 
reputation  may  be  due  largely  to  the  fact  that  it  was 
necessary  for  the  storymongers  to  provide  a  foil  for  the 
always  serene  and  placid  philosopher.  Plato,  the  most 
reliable  authority,  tells  us  nothing  disparaging  of  Xan- 
thippe, and  the  violent  grief  he  attributes  to  her  at  the 
last  parting  suggests  a  high  degree  of  affection  for  her 
phlegmatic  spouse.  Socrates  preferred  philosophical  dis- 
cussions with  his  friends  to  the  society  of  his  wife  in  his 
last  hours  of  life,  but  he  committed  her  and  her  children 
tenderly  to  their  care.  Thus  parted  the  ill-assorted  pair, 
each  of  whom  has  attained  world-wide  celebrity — the  one 
as  the  world's  philosopher,  the  other  as  the  proverbial 
shrew. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  Athenian  democracy,  women 
were  powerful  influences  in  civic  matters,  as  is  instanced 
in  the  case  of  Cylon  and  his  conspirators,  all  of  whom 
were  ruthlessly  slain  except  those  who  fell  at  the  feet  of 
the  archons'  wives,  who  in  pity  saved  them.  Herodotus 
tells  a  story  which  shows  the  intense  interest  of  the 


1 86  WOMAN 

Athenian  women  in  public  affairs  in  early  times.  There 
was  always  great  rivalry  between  Athens  and  the  neigh- 
boring island  of  >£gina.  At  one  time,  the  Athenians 
demanded  of  the  yEginetans  the  fulfilment  of  certain  con- 
ditions regarding  the  statues  of  Attic  olive  wood  which  the 
latter  had  stolen  from  the  Epidaurians.  "The  people  of 
>£gina  refused;  and  the  members  of  an  expedition  sent 
against  them,  attempting  to  drag  away  the  sacred  statues 
with  ropes,  were  seized  with  madness  and  destroyed,  one 
after  another,  so  that  only  one  man  returned  alive  to 
Athens.  This  man,  recounting  the  disasters,  was  sur- 
rounded by  the  women  whose  husbands  had  been  killed, 
and  each  one  pierced  him  with  the  bodkin  that  fastened 
her  garment;  so  that  he  died  under  their  hands.  The  con- 
duct of  these  women  filled  the  Athenians  with  horror,  and, 
as  a  punishment,  they  obliged  all  the  women  of  Athens  to 
give  up  the  Dorian  dress  which  they  wore,  and  instead 
to  clothe  themselves  with  the  Ionian  tunic,  which  had  no 
need  of  any  pin  to  fasten  it." 

Under  the  tyrants,  the  women  of  aristocratic  families 
throughout  Hellas  possessed  an  influence  which  was  lost 
under  the  levelling  process  of  democracy.  Pisistratus, 
after  his  first  banishment,  furthered  the  reestablishment 
of  his  tyranny  by  wedding  the  daughter  of  Megacles,  and 
thus  winning  for  himself  the  influence  of  the  powerful 
Alcmasonida*.  He  worshipped  Athena  as  his  patron  god- 
dess, and,  to  give  proper  religious  sanction  to  his  return, 
arranged  a  singular  ceremony,  which  Herodotus  regards  as 
"the  most  ridiculous  that  was  ever  imagined,"  but  which 
introduces  to  us  the  most  beautiful  Athenian  maiden  of 
the  times: 

"In  the  Pseanian  tribe,  there  was  a  woman  named 
Phya,  four  cubits  tall,  and  in  other  respects  handsome. 
Having  dressed  this  woman  in  a  complete  suit  of  armor, 


THE  ATHENIAN  WOMAN  187 

and  placed  her  in  a  chariot,  and  instructed  her  how  to 
assume  a  becoming  demeanor,  the  followers  of  Pisistratus 
drove  her  to  the  city,  having  sent  heralds  before  to  pro- 
claim: 'O  Athenians,  welcome  back  Pisistratus,  whom 
Athena  herself,  honoring  above  all  men,  now  conducts 
back  to  her  own  citadel!'  Thus  the  report  was  spread 
about  that  the  goddess  Athena  was  bringing  back  Pisis- 
tratus; and  the  people,  believing  it  to  be  true,  paid  wor- 
ship to  the  woman,  and  allowed  Pisistratus  to  return." 
The  return  was  most  happily  effected,  and,  soon  after, 
the  usurper  celebrated  the  marriage  of  this  "  counterfeit 
presentment "  of  the  goddess  to  one  of  his  sons. 

Woman  was  to  continue  to  play  a  fateful  part  in  the 
history  of  the  usurped  power  of  Pisistratus.  The  tyrant 
ill-treated  his  young  wife,  and  this  threw  her  father, 
Megacles,  again  into  the  party  of  the  opposition.  Pisis- 
tratus was  once  more  driven  from  Athens,  and  this  time 
from  Attica  as  well.  But  he  returned  a  third  time,  and 
established  his  power  so  firmly  that  at  his  death  he  be- 
queathed it  to  his  sons  unimpaired.  Hippias  and  Hip- 
parchus  ruled  wisely  at  first,  and  carried  on  the  many 
public  works  in  which  Pisistratus  had  engaged;  but  their 
downfall  finally  came  through  an  insult  to  a  highborn  Athe- 
nian maiden,  and  the  story  as  told  by  Thucydides  shows 
how  highly  a  sister's  honor  was  cherished  at  Athens. 

Harmodius,  an  aristocratic  young  Athenian,  had  rejected 
the  friendship  of  Hipparchus,  preferring  that  of  Aristogiton, 
a  citizen  of  modest  station.  The  tyrant  basely  avenged 
himself.  After  summoning  a  sister  of  Harmodius  to  come 
to  take  part  in  a  certain  procession  as  bearer  of  one  of  the 
sacred  vessels,  Hippias  and  Hipparchus  publicly  rejected 
the  maiden  when  she  presented  herself  in  her  festal  dress, 
asserting  that  they  had  not  invited  her  to  participate,  as 
she  was  unworthy  of  the  honor. 


1 88  WOMAN 

Harmodius  was  very  indignant  at  this  insult,  and  with 
his  friend,  who  was  equally  incensed,  formed  a  plot  which 
led  to  the  death  of  Hipparchus,  though  Harmodius  was  also 
killed  in  the  prosecution  of  the  plan.  Aristogiton  was  put 
to  the  torture;  and  tradition  relates  that  Leasna,  his  mis- 
tress, was  also  tortured,  and  fearing  lest  in  her  agony  she 
might  betray  any  of  the  conspirators  bit  off  her  tongue. 
After  the  expulsion  of  the  Pisistratidas,  the  Athenians 
honored  her  memory  by  a  bronze  statue  of  a  lioness  with- 
out a  tongue,  which  was  set  up  on  the  Acropolis.  The 
Athenians  by  this  act  showed  their  delight  in  a  play  on 
names,  as  Lecena  is  the  Greek  word  for  "lioness." 

The  Athenian  woman  has  never  had  the  reputation  for 
patriotism  that  characterized  her  Spartan  sister,  yet  at 
times  she  showed  an  almost  superhuman  devotion  to  the 
State.  After  the  sack  of  Athens  by  Mardonius  and  his 
troops  in  the  Persian  War,  a  senator,  Lycidas,  advised 
his  fellow  countrymen  to  accept  the  terms  which  were 
offered  them  by  the  Persian  general.  The  Athenians  in 
scorn  stoned  to  death  the  man  who  could  suggest  such 
a  cowardly  deed.  And  the  women,  hearing  what  their 
husbands  had  done,  passed  the  word  on  to  one  another, 
and,  gathering  together,  they  went  of  their  own  accord  to 
the  house  of  Lycidas  and  inflicted  the  same  punishment 
on  his  wife  and  children — a  cruel  act,  but  one  showing 
their  love  of  country  and  their  hatred  of  treason. 

These  women,  who  could  be  so  ruthless  when  patriotism 
was  involved,  knew  how  to  be  genuine  comforters  when 
their  own  loved  ones  were  in  trouble.  The  orator  An- 
docides  and  his  companions  were  tried  and  imprisoned  for 
impiety  in  violating  the  Eleusinian  mysteries.  "When," 
says  Isocrates,  "we  had  all  been  bound  in  the  same 
chamber,  and  it  was  night,  and  the  prison  had  been  closed, 
there  came  to  one  his  mother,  to  another  his  sister,  to 


THE  ATHENIAN  WOMAN  189 

another  his  wife  and  children,  and  there  was  woe  and 
lamentation  as  they  wept  over  their  misfortunes." 

In  so  brilliant  a  race,  it  was  impossible  that  some  women 
should  not  rise  above  the  surface  and,  by  extraordinary 
virtue  and  by  intellectual  and  spiritual  endowments  of  a 
high  order,  win  the  lasting  regard  of  men. 


IX 

ASPASIA 

THE  period  in  Greek  history  when  the  intellectual  and 
artistic  life  of  Hellas  reached  its  zenith  is  known  as  the 
Golden  Age  of  Pericles.  The  lofty  ideals  of  this  greatest 
of  Greek  statesmen  incited  him  to  make  Athens  the  seat  of 
a  mighty  empire  that  should  spread  the  noblest  and  most 
elevating  influences  throughout  all  Hellas.  He  called  to 
his  assistance  all  the  great  men  of  his  native  city,  and  made 
also  the  fine  arts  serve  as  handmaidens  of  Athens  and  con- 
tribute to  her  power  and  splendor.  Every  condition  was 
present  for  the  realization  of  an  intellectual  and  artistic 
epoch  such  as  the  world  had  never  witnessed.  At  the 
disposal  of  Pericles  was  an  inexhaustible  treasury — the  ac- 
cumulation of  the  tribute  of  subject  allies.  The  quarries 
of  Pentelicon  offered  in  great  abundance  the  material  neces- 
sary for  the  erection  of  public  buildings  which  might  ex- 
press in  sensuous  form  the  noblest  ideals  of  the  Greek 
race.  There  were  in  Athens  statesmen,  philosophers, 
artists,  dramatists,  historians,  men  preeminent  in  all  de- 
partments of  the  higher  life.  Foremost  among  these  was 
Pericles's  friend  and  counsellor,  Phidias,  a  "king  in  the 
domain  of  art,  as  Pericles  was  in  political  life." 

"What  an  age  it  was,  truly,  when,  as  the  companions 
of  Pericles,  there  were  assembled  in  one  city  Sophocles 

193 


194  WOMAN 

and  Euripides,  Herodotus  and  Thucydides,  Meton  and 
Hippocrates,  Aristophanes  and  Phidias,  Socrates  and  An- 
axagoras,  Appollodorus  and  Zeuxis,  Polygnotus  and  Par- 
rhasius; — in  a  city  which  had  but  lately  lost  yEschylus, 
and  was  soon  to  possess  Xenophon,  Plato,  and  Aristotle; 
a  city  which,  moreover,  to  make  the  illustrious  dead  its 
own,  erected  statues  to  their  memory!" 

"  What  should  we  expect  the  pupils  of  such  masters  to 
be?  What  they  were, — the  masters  of  Greece.  Thucyd- 
ides says  that  Athens  was  at  this  time  the  instructress  of 
Greece,  as  she  was  the  source  of  its  supplies.  Behold 
this  fine  democracy  going  from  the  theatre  of  Sophocles 
to  the  Parthenon  of  Phidias,  or  to  the  Bema  where  Peri- 
cles speaks  to  them  in  the  language  of  the  gods;  listening 
to  Herodotus,  who  recounts  the  great  collision  between 
Europe  and  Asia;  Hippocrates  of  Cos,  and  the  Athenian 
Meton,  of  whom  one  founded  the  science  of  medicine,  and 
the  other,  mathematical  astronomy;  Anaxagoras,  who  elimi- 
nates the  idea  of  God  as  distinct  from  matter;  Socrates, 
who  establishes  the  principles  of  morals!  What  lessons 
were  these!  Art,  history,  poetry,  philosophy — all  take  a 
sublime  flight.  There  is  no  place  for  second-rate  talent 
here.  The  art  that  Athens  honors  most  is  the  greatest 
of  all  arts — architecture;  her  poetry  is  the  drama — the 
highest  expression  of  poetic  genius,  for  it  unites  all  forms 
in  itself,  as  architecture  calls  all  the  other  arts  to  its  ser- 
vice. At  this  fortunate  moment  all  is  great,  the  power 
of  Athens  as  well  as  the  genius  of  the  eminent  men  who 
guide  the  city  and  do  it  honor." 

Such,  in  brief,  is  the  picture  of  Athens  in  her  greatest 
days,  as  drawn  by  an  eminent  historian.  The  splendor 
and  supremacy  of  the  city  in  this  epoch  were  largely  due 
to  the  constructive  genius  of  one  man — Pericles;  and  if 
we  study  his  private  life  to  the  end  that  we  may  discover 


ASPASIA  195 

the  formative  influences  which  contributed  to  his  great- 
ness, we  find  that  the  chief  source  of  his  inspiration  was 
a  woman — the  Milesian  Aspasia,  the  most  brilliant  and 
cultured  woman  of  classic  times. 

Aspasia  ranks  as  one  of  the  most  remarkable  women  of 
all  antiquity;  and  her  ascendency  as  one  of  the  foremost 
of  her  sex  is  due  to  the  fact  that  she  is  the  only  woman 
whose  name  appears  in  the  brilliant  galaxy  of  the  Per- 
iclean  age  and  that  the  greatest  leaders  in  that  coterie  of 
great  men  Vvere  glad  to  acknowledge  their  indebtedness  to 
her  for  instruction  and  inspiration.  She  is  the  only  woman 
prominent  in  the  life  of  Athens  of  whom  much  is  known  to 
us,  and  she  has  won  for  herself  a  place  altogether  unique 
in  the  history  of  Greek  womanhood. 

She  was  the  daughter  of  one  Axiochus,  and  was  born  and 
reared  in  Miletus,  the  most  pleasure-loving  and  artistic  of 
the  cities  of  Asia  Minor.  The  story  of  her  childhood  and 
youth  is  a  closed  book,  but  we  know  that  she  was  carefully 
trained  in  rhetoric,  music,  and  the  fine  arts,  and  became  the 
possessor  of  every  feminine  accomplishment.  Her  precep- 
tress is  said  to  have  been  the  celebrated  Thargelia,  also 
of  Miletus,  who  exerted  her  power  for  the  Great  King, 
during  the  Persian  War  and  finally  married  one  of  the 
kings  in  Thessaly.  How  Aspasia  was  drawn  to  Athens 
is  not  known,  but  the  most  probable  theory  is  that  she 
settled  there  as  a  young  and  brilliant  teacher  of  rhetoric, 
following  the  precedent  established  by  Anaxagoras  in  phi- 
losophy and  by  Protagoras  and  other  men  in  rhetoric,  who 
found  in  Athens  the  most  profitable  field  for  the  exercise 
of  their  talents.  Here  Aspasia  gathered  about  her  all  the 
learned  and  accomplished  men  of  Athens.  She  was  no 
mere  creature  of  pleasure,  who  ministered  to  luxury  and 
lust;  but  by  her  beauty  and  culture  she  sought  to  draw  to 
her  the  first  men  of  the  town,  that  she  might  learn  of  them 


196  WOMAN 

as  they  of  her.  "  Nor  was  it  long  before  it  was  recog- 
nized that  she  enchained  the  souls  of  men  by  no  mere 
arts  of  deception  of  which  she  had  learned  the  trick.  Hers 
was  a  lofty  and  richly  endowed  nature,  with  a  perfect 
sense  of  the  beautiful,  and  hers  a  harmonious  and  felici- 
tous development.  For  the  first  time,  the  treasures  of 
Hellenic  culture  were  found  in  the  possession  of  a  woman, 
surrounded  by  the  grace  of  her  womanhood,  a  phenomenon 
which  all  men  looked  upon  with  eyes  of  wonder.  She 
was  able  to  converse  with  irresistible  grace  on  politics, 
philosophy,  and  art,  so  that  the  most  serious  Athenians, 
even  such  men  as  Socrates,  sought  her  out  in  order  to 

listen  to  her  conversation." 

• 

There  could  be  nothing  more  natural  than  that  when 
Pericles  and  Aspasia  met  the  soul  of  each  should  discover 
in  the  other  its  affinity.  Pericles  was  married  to  an 
Athenian  kinswoman,  but  they  did  not  find  conjugal  life 
altogether  congenial,  and  by  mutual  agreement  their  mar- 
riage ties  were  dissolved  and  Pericles  found  for  his  wife 
another  husband.  He  then  took  Aspasia  to  his  home  and 
called  her  his  wife.  They  could  not  wed,  for  she  was  a 
foreigner,  and  their  union  in  consequence  lacked  civil  sanc- 
tion; yet  it  was  a  real  marriage  in  all  but  in  name,  based 
on  the  truest  and  tenderest  affection,  and  dissolved  only 
by  death. 

So  remarkable  was  Pericles's  devotion  to  Aspasia,  that 
Plutarch  records,  as  an  indication  of  its  sincerity,  that 
the  great  Athenian  kissed  Aspasia  upon  going  out  in  the 
morning  and  upon  his  return  home — clearly  an  unusual 
occurrence  in  Athenian  homes,  or  it  would  not  have 
seemed  worthy  of  mention.  The  possession  of  so  rare  a 
woman  was  doubtless  in  many  respects  invaluable  to  the 
great  statesman.  Plutarch  states  that  the  latter  was 
first  attracted  to  the  Milesian  by  her  wisdom  and  political 


ASPASIA  197 

sagacity.  Socrates,  who  confessed  also  his  own  indebted- 
ness to  Aspasia,  states  that  she  was  Pericles's  teacher  in 
the  art  of  rhetoric,  and  could  even  write  his  speeches. 
Pericles  was  a  reserved  man,  who  devoted  himself  strictly 
to  his  official  cares  and  refrained  from  social  intercourse 
with  those  about  him.  Hence  he  found  in  Aspasia  not 
only  the  delight  of  his  leisure  moments  and  a  sympathizing 
friend  and  counsellor  in  his  perplexities,  but  also  the  link 
that  connected  him  with  the  daily  life  about  him.  She 
knew  how  to  be  at  ease  in  every  kind  of  society;  how  to 
keep  informed  of  everything  that  took  place  in  the  city 
that  Pericles  should  know;  how  to  keep  in  touch  with 
the  great  movements  throughout  Hellas  and  to  make  them 
contribute  to  the  glory  of  Athens:  and  in  all  these,  and  in 
many  other  respects,  she  proved  of  use  to  him  in  his 
political  life. 

It  is  probable  that  Aspasia  was  still  in  her  twenties 
when  Pericles  first  met  her,  while  he  himself  was  much 
older.  She  must  have  possessed  a  fascinating  personality 
which  at  once  captivated  the  great  statesman;  but,  aside 
from  her  intellectual  gifts,  it  is  difficult  in  this  day  to 
analyze  her  charm.  There  is  no  positive  evidence  that 
she  was  beautiful,  according  to  Greek  standards,  though 
this  is  the  natural  inference.  Ancient  writers  call  her  the 
good,  the  wise,  the  eloquent;  they  speak  of  her  "honey- 
colored"  or  golden  hair,  of  her  "silvery  voice,"  of  her 
"small,  high-arched  foot,"  but  no  writer  of  the  time  has 
expressly  said  that  she  was  beautiful.  In  the  museums 
of  Europe,  there  are  various  busts  on  which  her  name  is 
inscribed,  but  they  impress  us  rather  by  the  expression  of 
earnest  and  deep  thought,  by  the  delicacy  and  distinction 
of  the  features,  than  by  mere  beauty.  Her  charm  lay,  no 
doubt,  rather  in  her  wisdom,  her  vivacity,  her  sweetness 
of  utterance,  than  in  perfection  of  form  and  feature. 


IQ8  WOMAN 

Aspasia  made  the  home  of  Pericles  the  first  salon  that 
history  has  made  known  to  us;  and  what  woman  ever 
gathered  about  her  a  more  brilliant  coterie  of  friends? 
With  Phidias  and  his  group  of  eminent  artists,  she  talked 
of  the  embellishment  of  the  Acropolis  with  beautiful  tem- 
ples and  statues;  with  Anaxagoras  and  Socrates,  she 
discussed  the  problems  of  philosophy  and  the  narrow  con- 
servatism of  the  Athenians;  with  Sophocles  and  Euripides, 
she  conversed  concerning  the  works  of  the  dramatists  and 
the  ideal  women  presented  in  their  plays.  Herodotus,  per- 
haps, was  the  inimitable  story  teller  of  this  learned  circle, 
and  the  melancholy  Thucydides  dwelt  on  the  dark  tragedy 
underlying  human  events;  no  doubt  the  satirical  Aris- 
tophanes sometimes  attended,  for  the  Platonic  dialogues 
show  us  the  social  side  of  his  nature,  and,  while  in  his 
plays  he  scorns  the  philosophical  set,  he  found  among 
them  intellectual  companionship;  and  the  young  and  gay 
Alcibiades  was  doubtless  frequently  present,  talking  with 
the  hostess  of  the  latest  events  in  the  high  life  of  the  city, 
of  betrothals  and  marriages,  of  scandals  and  escapades. 

One  of  the  sons  of  Pericles  scoffed  at  this  circle  of  in- 
tellectual lights,  and  made  fun  of  their  metaphysical  specu- 
lations and  learned  talk;  but  this  merely  indicates  that 
such  a  salon  was  an  innovation  in  Athens,  and,  therefore, 
led  to  harsh  criticism  and  unseemly  gossip  on  the  part  of 
those  who  could  not  appreciate  its  privileges.  Music, 
poetry,  and  wit  relieved  the  serious  discussion  of  politics, 
philosophy,  and  literature.  The  salon  of  Aspasia  must 
have  been  altogether  decorous,  for  many  men  broke  the 
traditions  of  their  fathers  and  brought  their  wives  to  con- 
verse about  wifely  duties  with  the  famous  hetaera.  She 
seems  to  have  thought  earnestly  and  deeply  on  the  duties 
and  destiny  of  woman,  to  have  realized  how  contracted 
were  the  lives  of  Athenian  women,  and  to  have  wished  to 


ASPASIA  199 

better  their  condition.  >Eschines,  in  one  of  his  dialogues, 
gives  us  in  her  conversation  with  Xenophon  and  his  wife 
Philesia  a  glimpse  of  her  method. 

"Tell  me,  Philesia,"  said  Aspasia,  "whether  if  your 
neighbor  had  a  piece  of  gold  of  more  value  than  your  own, 
you  would  not  choose  it  before  your  own?"  "Yes,"  an- 
swered Philesia.  "If  she  had  a  gown,  or  any  of  the 
female  ornaments,  better  than  yours,  would  not  you 
choose  them  rather  than  your  own?"  "  Yes,"  answered 
she.  "But,"  said  Aspasia,  "if  she  had  a  husband  of 
more  merit  than  your  own,  would  not  you  choose  the 
former?"  Upon  this,  Philesia  blushed.  Aspasia  then 
addressed  herself  to  Xenophon.  "  If  your  neighbor,  Xeno- 
phon, had  a  horse  better  than  your  own,  would  you  not 
choose  him  preferably  to  your  own?"  "  Yes,"  answered 
he.  "If  he  had  an  estate  or  a  farm  of  more  value  than 
your  own,  which  would  you  choose?"  "The  former," 
answered  he;  "that  is,  that  which  is  of  more  value." 
"  But  if  his  wife  were  better  than  your  own,  would  not 
you  choose  your  neighbor's?"  Xenophon  was  silent  upon 
this  question.  Aspasia  therefore  proceeded  thus:  "Since 
both  of  you,  then,  have  refused  to  answer  me  in  that  point 
only  which  I  wanted  you  to  satisfy  me  in,  I  will  tell  you 
myself  what  you  both  think:  you,  Philesia,  would  have 
the  best  of  husbands,  and  you,  Xenophon,  the  best  of 
wives.  And,  therefore,  if  you  do  not  endeavor  that  there 
be  not  a  better  husband  and  wife  in  the  world  than  your- 
selves, you  will  always  be  wishing  for  that  which  you 
shall  think  best:  you,  Xenophon,  will  wish  you  might  be 
married  to  the  best  of  wives,  and  Philesia,  that  she  might 
have  the  best  of  husbands." 

Thus  this  brilliant  and  withal  domestic  woman  would 
counsel  women  to  be  the  best  of  wives,  and  men  the  most 
considerate  of  husbands,  that  each  might  find  in  the  joys 


200  WOMAN 

of  home  and  in  conjugal  harmony  their  greatest  felicity. 
Doubtless  many  a  wife  went  away  from  her  with  higher 
conceptions  of  wifely  duty  than  custom  had  taught  her, 
and  sought  to  make  her  home  a  more  congenial  retreat 
for  her  husband.  Many,  however,  looked  askance  at 
these  gatherings  of  men  and  women  and  could  see  nothing 
but  evil  in  their  violations  of  custom.  Husbands,  too,  saw 
in  these  novel  proceedings  dangerous  tendencies;  for  if 
their  wives  became  emancipated,  there  would  be  a  limit 
to  their  own  pleasant  indulgences.  It  was  Aspasia  who 
preeminently  labored  to  this  end.  The  status  of  woman 
at  Athens  was  far  from  ideal,  and  the  need  for  reform  was 
great;  and  if  we  endeavor  to  discover  who  was  chiefly 
responsible  for  the  agitation  which  had  for  its  purpose  the 
emancipation  of  woman  from  the  thraldom  in  which  she 
was  held,  we  find  that  it  was  the  wise  and  far-seeing 
Aspasia. 

Owing  to  the  intellectual  awakening  at  Athens  during 
the  Periclean  Age  and  the  influx  of  new  ideas  from  the 
various  Hellenic  countries,  a  liberal  party  had  arisen  in 
the  city,  chiefly  under  the  leadership  of  Pericles  and  Anax- 
agoras — a  radical  party,  headed  by  men  of  culture  and 
science,  who  taught  that  knowledge  was  power,  who  de- 
spised the  established  religion,  and  who  set  at  naught 
the  domestic  manners  of  the  day  by  seeking  to  elevate 
woman.  Socrates,  also,  was  heartily  in  sympathy  with 
the  objects  of  this  party,  as  was  the  dramatist  Euripides. 
On  the  other  side  were  the  ultra-conservatives,  of  whom 
Cimon  and  Aristophanes  were  representatives.  The  latter 
frequently  made  Pericles,  Aspasia,  Socrates,  and  Euripides 
the  subjects  of  his  satire.  These  Tories  of  the  day  saw 
in  the  tenets  of  the  new  party  the  subversion  of  all  the 
principles  of  the  old  democracy,  and  they  fought  most 
bitterly  to  preserve  established  institutions. 


ASPASIA  201 

Toward  the  close  of  Xenophon's  treatise  on  Domestic 
Economy,  Critobulus,  who  has  been  impressed  by  the 
story  of  Ischomachus,  wishes  to  learn  how  he,  too,  may 
educate  his  young  wife,  and  Socrates  advises  him  to  con- 
sult with  Aspasia.  The  profound  deference  in  which  she 
was  held  by  all  the  philosophers  is  a  further  indication 
that  from  her  they  had  derived  many  of  their  advanced 
ideas  regarding  the  relations  of  the  sexes.  Hence,  while 
positive  evidence  is  lacking,  incidental  touches  and  side- 
lights on  the  Woman  Question  point  unerringly  to  the  one 
great  woman  of  ancient  Athens  as  the  originator  of  the 
first  movement  for  the  emancipation  of  woman  recorded 
in  history. 

As  Aspasia,  through  her  intercourse  with  the  great,  had 
attained  unbounded  influence  in  the  State,  and  as  her  circle 
was  the  exponent  of  the  ideas  which  offended  the  con- 
ventional spirit,  it  was  natural  that  she  should  be  involved 
in  the  storm  of  criticism  that  befell  the  leaders  of  thought. 
As  a  woman  who  had  stepped  out  of  the  beaten  track  of 
womanhood,  she  was  made  the  subject  of  the  coarsest 
slanders.  She  was  called  the  Hera  to  this  Zeus,  Pericles, 
the  Omphale,  the  Deianira  of  the  Heracles  of  the  day;  her 
girl  friends  and  pupils,  who  enjoyed  the  same  liberty  she 
claimed  for  herself,  were  most  violently  defamed;  she  was 
said  to  have  induced,  for  the  basest  of  reasons,  Pericles 
to  bring  on  the  Peloponnesian  and  Samian  wars.  The 
comic  poets,  as  the  chief  organs  of  the  opposition,  en- 
gaged in  this  most  merciless  and  unjust  tirade  against  the 
party  of  the  philosophers.  None  of  their  charges,  how- 
ever, can  be  said  to  have  had  any  basis  in  fact,  and  all 
may  easily  be  accounted  for  when  the  envy  and  hatred  of 
the  ignorant  toward  the  beautiful  and  accomplished  and 
independent  woman  is  taken  into  consideration.  In  the 
Athens  of  the  fifth  century  before  our  era,  when  people 


202  WOMAN 

were  just  beginning  to  break  away  from  the  narrow 
conservatism  of  centuries,  a  woman  who  enjoyed  an 
unheard-of  degree  of  liberty,  and  because  of  her  talents 
was  regarded  with  admiration  by  the  greatest  men  of  the 
city,  might  well  be  the  target  for  the  grossest  abuse.  A 
vicious  woman  would  be  the  last  to  undertake,  as  did 
Aspasia,  the  study  of  philosophy,  which,  with  Socrates, 
was  the  study  of  virtue. 

The  party  of  the  philosophers  suffered  for  their  opinions. 
Phidias  was  accused  of  theft,  and  died  in  prison;  Anaxag- 
oras,  to  escape  the  charges  against  him,  went  into  volun- 
tary exile;  and  Aspasia  was  brought  to  trial  on  a  charge 
of  impiety,  which  merely  meant  that  she,  as  others  of  her 
circle,  set  at  naught  the  polytheism  of  the  multitude,  and 
recognized  but  one  creative  mind  in  the  government  of  the 
universe,  an  accusation  under  which  Socrates  later  suffered 
martyrdom.  She  was  brought  before  the  judges,  and  Peri- 
cles pleaded  her  cause.  Plutarch  says  that  he  pleaded 
with  tears;  and  as  the  people  could  not  resist  the  emotion 
of  their  great  leader,  she  was  acquitted. 

Pericles's  last  days  were  passed  in  the  gloom  of  the 
outbreak  of  the  Peloponnesian  War,  of  the  plague  that 
depopulated  the  city,  and  of  the  discontent  of  his  beloved 
people.  No  brilliant  sun  ever  had  a  more  gloomy  setting. 
Yet  in  his  last  moments  his  thoughts  were  of  the  two 
beloved  objects  that  had  absorbed  his  tenderest  affections. 
"Athens  has  intrusted  her  greatness  and  Aspasia  her 
happiness  to  me,"  Pericles  said,  when  dying;  and  there 
could  be  no  stronger  testimony  to  the  purity  of  Aspasia's 
character,  to  the  influence  of  her  life  on  his,  to  the  r61e 
she  had  played  in  that  Golden  Age  of  Athens. 

Athens  and  Aspasia — these  were  linked  in  the  thoughts 
of  the  dying  statesman;  and  as  he  made  the  one  great,  so 
he  made  the  other  immortal.  Had  his  life  not  been  blessed 


ASP  ASIA  203 

with  union  with  hers,  had  his  temperament  not  been 
sweetened  by  her  companionship,  had  his  policy  not 
been  moulded  partly  by  her  counsel  and  her  wisdom,  had 
his  taste  not  been  made  so  subtle  and  refined  by  commun- 
ion with  her  artistic  temperament,  Athens  would  not  have 
been  embellished  by  the  works  of  art  which  have  made 
that  city  the  unapproachable  ruler  in  the  domain  of  the 
spirit.  Woman's  influence,  where  it  has  counted  most,  has 
always  been  a  silent  one,  and  has  worked  through  man. 
Is  not  Aspasia  worthy  of  the  laurel  wreath  for  the  results 
of  her  life  on  "the  city  of  the  violet  crown"? 


APHRODITE   PANDEMUS 

FOR  the  proper  understanding  of  the  status  of  woman 
among  the  Greeks  of  ancient  times,  it  becomes  necessary 
for  the  historian  of  Greek  womanhood  to  call  attention  to 
a  conspicuous  social  phenomenon  pervading  the  life  of  all 
the  nations  of  antiquity,  but  nowhere  else  so  marked  a 
feature  of  the  higher  life  as  in  the  lands  of  Hellas — a  phe- 
nomenon bringing  about  social  conditions  that  divided  the 
female  population  of  Greece  into  two  sharply  distinguished 
classes:  the  citizen-woman  and  the  courtesan  or  mistress. 

This  notable  aspect  of  Greek  life  is  due  to  the  fact  that 
the  ancient  Hellene,  as  a  rule,  sought  recreation  and 
pleasure,  not  at  the  domestic  hearth,  but  in  the  society  of 
clever  women,  who  had  not  only  cultivated  their  physical 
charms,  but  had  also  trained  their  intellects  and  sensibili- 
ties so  as  to  become  virtuosi  in  all  the  arts  of  pleasure. 
Their  pleasing  forms  of  intercourse,  their  light  and  viva- 
cious conversation,  lent  to  association  with  them  a  peculiar 
seductiveness  and  fascination. 

To  designate  this  class  of  women  in  a  manner  which 
would  distinguish  them  from  the  citizen-women  on  the  one 
hand  and  the  debased  prostitute  on  the  other,  they  were 
euphemistically  called  "hetasrae,"  or  companions.  The 
term  hetcerce  had  been  originally  a  most  honorable  one, 
and  Sappho  had  used  it,  in  the  highest  and  best  sense,  of 

207 


2O8  WOMAN 

her  girl  friends  as  implying  companions  of  like  rank  and 
interests.  It  is  not  known  when  it  was  first  used  with 
sinister  suggestion,  but,  like  our  word  mistress,  it  fell  from 
its  honorable  estate  and  became  the  usual  term  to  describe 
these  women  of  pleasure. 

The  causes  of  the  extent  of  hetairism  among  the  Greeks 
are  to  be  found  in  their  religious  conceptions,  their  polit- 
ical institutions,  and  the  innate  sensualism  of  the  Greek 
peoples. 

The  Greeks  were  worshippers  of  the  productive  forces 
of  nature  as  manifested  in  animal  and  plant  life.  Aphrodite 
is  the  female  and  Dionysius  the  male  personification  of 
the  generative  principles,  and  in  consequence  the  religious 
ceremonials  of  these  two  deities  assumed  at  times  a  most 
licentious  aspect.  In  course  of  time,  a  distinction  arose 
in  the  conception  of  Aphrodite,  expressed  by  the  surname 
applied  to  her.  Thus  Aphrodite  Urania  came  to  be  gener- 
ally regarded  as  the  goddess  of  the  highest  love,  especially 
of  wedded  love  and  fruitfulness,  in  contrast  to  Aphrodite 
Pandemus,  the  goddess  of  sensual  lust  and  the  patron  deity 
of  courtesans. 

We  could  hardly  expect  high  moral  ideas  in  regard  to 
sexual  relations  among  the  Greeks,  whose  deities  were 
so  lax.  Zeus  himself  was  given  to  illicit  intercourse  with 
mortal  maidens  and  was  continually  arousing  the  jealousy 
of  his  prudent  wife,  the  Lady  Hera.  Aphrodite  was  not 
faithful  to  her  liege  lord,  Hephaestus,  but  was  given  to 
escapades  with  the  warlike  Ares.  Apollo  had  his  mortal 
loves,  and  Hades  abducted  the  beautiful  Proserpina.  A 
people  who  from  their  childhood  were  taught  such  stories 
could  hardly  be  expected  to  be  more  moral  than  their  deities. 

As  has  been  shown  in  a  previous  chapter,  the  Greek 
conception  of  the  city-state  lay  at  the  basis  of  laws  and 
customs  which  repressed  the  citizen-woman  and  prevented 


APHRODITE   PANDEMUS  2OQ 

proper  attention  to  her  education  and  to  the  full  and  well- 
rounded  cultivation  of  womanly  graces.  The  State  hedged 
itself  about  with  the  most  rigid  safeguards  to  preserve  the 
purity  of  the  citizen  blood.  Stringent  laws  were  passed 
prohibiting  any  citizen-man  from  marrying  a  stranger- 
woman,  or  any  stranger-man  from  marrying  a  citizen- 
woman.  To  enforce  these  laws,  it  was  necessary  to  keep 
the  wives  and  daughters  of  the  State  within  the  narrow 
bounds  of  the  gynseceum;  and  they  were  forbidden  a 
knowledge  of  public  affairs,  which  would  make  them  more 
interesting  to  men.  Hence  the  limitations  of  their  culture 
made  it  impossible  for  them  to  be  in  every  sense  the  com- 
panions of  their  husbands.  But  it  is  not  natural  for  men 
to  be  deprived  of  the  sympathy  and  inspiration  that  is 
found  in  association  with  cultivated  women;  hence  there 
was,  especially  in  Athens,  a  peculiar  sphere  for  the  culti- 
vated hetasra.  The  men  of  the  city  recognized  the  need 
of  feminine  society  in  their  recreations,  in  their  political 
life,  and  on  military  expeditions.  The  hetasra  entered  this 
sphere,  from  which  the  citizen-woman  was  excluded. 

A  further  reason  for  the  predominance  of  hetairism  is 
seen  in  the  artistic  impulses  of  the  Greek  people.  These 
courtesans  made  an  art  of  the  life  of  pleasure.  Cultivating 
every  feminine  grace,  carefully  attentive  to  all  the  little 
niceties  of  social  intercourse,  studying  in  every  way  how 
to  be  agreeable  to  the  men,  adepts  in  conversation,  devo- 
tees of  the  Muses  and  the  Graces,  they  knew  how  to 
make  their  relations  with  men  answer  to  all  the  impulses 
of  a  beauty-loving  people.  And  as  the  Greeks  found  aes- 
thetic satisfaction  in  their  masterpieces  of  prose  and  poetry, 
in  their  works  of  architecture  and  sculpture  and  painting, 
so  they  found  it  in  their  association  with  the  hetaeras. 

Owing  to  such  conditions,  there  arose  a  most  unnatu- 
ral division  of  the  admitted  functions  of  woman  in  the 


210  WOMAN 

world-order.  Says  the  great  orator  Demosthenes:  "We 
take  a  hetaera  for  our  pleasure,  a  concubine  for  daily  atten- 
tion to  our  physical  wants,  a  wife  to  give  us  legitimate 
children  and  a  respected  house" — an  utterance  narrowly 
defining  the  status  of  the  hetaera  as  contrasted  with  that 
of  the  honorable  wife.  The  latter  was  the  housewife  and 
mother,  nothing  more,  though  surrounded  by  all  the  dig- 
nities and  privileges  of  her  high  station;  the  former  was 
the  companion,  the  comrade  in  whose  society  were  found 
recreation  and  sympathy  and  intellectual  delight,  but  she 
was  outside  the  pale  of  society,  not  respected,  yet  not 
altogether  despised. 

It  is  difficult  to  ascertain  the  beginnings  of  hetairism 
among  the  Greeks.  There  is  a  noteworthy  absence  of 
it  in  the  Homeric  poems,  though  the  Greek  chieftains  fre- 
quently had  concubines,  who  were  slaves  captured  in  war. 

Allusions  in  the  lyric  poets  show  that  as  early  as  the 
sixth  century  before  our  era  the  hetaera  had  made  her 
appearance.  The  earliest  reference  to  the  social  evil  in 
the  history  of  Athens  is  found  in  the  administration  of  the 
lawgiver  Solon,  who  was  the  first  to  legalize  prostitution. 
With  the  avowed  purpose  of  forestalling  the  seduction  of 
virgins  and  wives,  he  bought  slave  girls  in  the  markets 
of  Asia  Minor  and  placed  them  in  public  houses  in  Athens. 
This  regulation  for  the  protection  of  the  home  was  gen- 
erally regarded  as  deserving  of  praise.  Thus  speaks  the 
comic  poet  Philemon: 

"  But  you  did  well  for  every  man,  O  Solon : 
For  they  do  say  you  were  the  first  to  see 
The  justice  of  a  public-spirited  measure, 
The  saviour  of  the  State  (and  it  is  fit 
For  me  to  utter  this  avowal,  Solon) ; 
You,  seeing  that  the  State  was  full  of  men, 
Young,  and  possessed  of  all  the  natural  appetites, 
And  wandering  in  their  lusts  where  they'd  no  business, 


APHRODITE    PANDEMUS  211 

Bought  women  and  in  certain  spots  did  place  them, 

Common  to  be  and  ready  for  all  comers. 

They  naked  stood :  look  well  at  them,  my  youth, — 

Do  not  deceive  yourself ;  aren't  you  well  off? 

You're  ready,  so  are  they :  the  door  is  open — 

The  price  an  obol :  enter  straight— there's 

No  nonsense  here,  no  cheat  or  trickery ; 

But  do  just  what  you  like,  how  you  like. 

You're  off:  wish  her  good-bye;  she's  no  more  claim  on  you." 


In  the  early  days  antedating  the  Persian  War,  before  the 
Athenians  had  been  corrupted  by  power  and  by  extensive 
intercourse  with  the  outside  world,  it  was  regarded  as 
shameful  for  a  married  man  to  associate  with  a  hetasra. 
When  the  husband  was  guilty  of  such  conduct,  the  insulted 
wife  could  obtain  a  decree  of  separation,  which  involved 
the  return  to  the  wife's  family  of  the  full  dowry,  while  the 
enmity  of  the  wife's  kindred  was  visited  upon  the  unfaith- 
ful husband.  During  the  Golden  Age  of  Pericles,  how- 
ever, Athens  departed  from  her  earlier  simplicity,  and  the 
increase  of  wealth  and  the  influx  of  foreigners  swept  away 
the  old-fashioned  standards  of  morality.  The  influence  of 
Pericles  and  Aspasia  on  smaller  minds  seems  to  have  been 
unfortunate.  Reverential  regard  for  the  marriage  bond 
became  a  thing  of  the  past,  and  hetairism  became  the 
common  practice.  Almost  all  the  great  men  of  Athens 
had  relations  with  hetaeras;  the  young  men  gave  them- 
selves up  to  the  life  of  pleasure;  and  with  the  disruption 
of  family  ties  began  the  downfall  of  the  State. 

In  Corinth,  hetairism  was  invested  with  all  the  sanctity 
of  religion,  and  these  votaries  of  pleasure  enjoyed  a  dis- 
tinction accorded  them  in  no  other  Greek  city.  When 
Xerxes  was  advancing  against  Hellas  with  his  vast  arma- 
ment, the  courtesans  of  Corinth  betook  themselves  in 
solemn  procession  to  the  temple  of  Aphrodite,  the  patron 
deity  of  the  city,  and  implored  her  aid  for  the  preservation 


212  WOMAN 

of  the  fatherland,  dedicating  their  services  to  her  in  return 
for  a  favorable  answer  to  their  prayers,  and  vowing  to 
reward  with  their  unpurchased  embraces  the  victorious 
warriors  upon  their  return.  The  goddess  was  supposed 
to  have  heard  their  petitions,  and  out  of  gratitude  the 
Corinthians  dedicated  to  Aphrodite  a  painting,  in  which 
were  represented  various  hetaeras  who  had  supplicated  the 
goddess,  while  beneath  were  inscribed  the  following  verses 
of  Simonides: 

"These  damsels,  in  behalf  of  Greece,  and  all 
Their  gallant  countrymen,  stood  nobly  forth, 
Praying  to  Venus,  the  all-powerful  goddess; 
Nor  was  the  queen  of  beauty  willing  ever 
To  leave  the  citadel  of  Greece  to  fall 
Beneath  the  arrows  of  the  unwarlike  Persians." 

Private  individuals  frequently  vowed,  upon  the  fortunate 
issue  of  some  undertaking,  to  dedicate  to  the  goddess  of 
love  a  certain  number  of  hetaerae.  These  votaries  of  Aph- 
rodite were  called  hierodulce,  or  temple  attendants.  Pindar 
in  his  immortal  verses  thus  describes  them: 

"O  hospitable  damsels,  fairest  train 
Of  soft  Persuasion, — 
Ornament  of  the  wealthy  Corinth, 
Bearing  in  willing  hands  the  golden  drops 
That  from  the  frankincense  distil,  and  flying 
To  the  fair  mother  of  the  Loves, 
Who  dwelleth  in  the  sky, 
The  lovely  Venus, — you  do  bring  to  us 
Comfort  and  hope  in  danger,  that  we  may 
Hereafter,  in  the  delicate  beds  of  Love, 
Reap  the  long-wished-for  fruits  of  joy 
Lovely  and  necessary  to  all  mortal  men." 

Strabo  states  that  there  were  over  a  thousand  hierodulce 
in  the  Corinth  of  his  day.  Because  of  the  enormous  num- 
ber of  such  damsels  and  of  the  respect  which  was  accorded 


APHRODITE    PANDEMUS  213 

them,  Corinth  became  the  most  noted  hetasra  city.  Here 
dwelt  the  wealthiest  and  most  beautiful  hetasras.  As  the 
most  important  commercial  centre  of  Greece,  the  city 
was  the  abiding  place  of  wealthy  merchants  and  travel- 
lers; these  fell  victims  to  the  voluptuous  and  licentious 
life  of  the  place,  and  the  vast  fortunes  accumulated  by  the 
professional  courtesans  were  acquired  by  the  ruin  of  many 
a  merchant.  The  expression  "Corinthian  maiden"  de- 
noted the  acme  of  voluptuousness,  and  to  "  Corinthianize" 
became  synonymous  with  leading  the  most  dissolute  life. 

In  other  prominent  commercial  centres  of  Hellas  and 
of  the  Greek  colonies  hetairism  also  flourished.  Pirasus, 
the  harbor  of  Athens,  had  its  demi-monde  quarter,  and  the 
number  of  courtesans  in  Athens  and  its  harbor  town  was 
only  surpassed  by  that  of  Corinth. 

The  inland  cities  were  much  more  moral  in  this  regard. 
From  Sparta,  in  its  best  days,  heteras  were  rigidly  ex- 
cluded. Plutarch  records  a  saying  of  the  Spartans,  that 
when  Aphrodite  passed  over  the  Eurotas  River  she  put  off 
her  gewgaws  and  female  ornaments,  and  for  the  sake  of 
Lycurgus  armed  herself  with  shield  and  spear.  This 
Venus  armata  of  the  Spartans,  as  well  as  their  sturdy 
morals,  forbade  the  presence  of  the  seductive  strangers  in 
their  midst;  but  Ares  was  ever  susceptible  to  Aphrodite, 
and  the  Spartan  warrior,  when  located  in  the  voluptuous 
Ionian  cities,  frequently  forgot  his  early  training,  and  fell 
a  victim  to  his  environment. 

There  were  in  Athens,  in  the  fifth  and  fourth  centuries, 
four  classes  of  hetasrae,  graded  according  to  political  stand- 
ing. The  first  and  lowest  class  was  that  of  the  public  pros- 
titute— slaves  bought  by  the  State  for  the  public  houses, 
which  were  taxed  for  the  benefit  of  the  city  and  were 
under  the  supervision  of  city  inspectors.  These  unfor- 
tunate women  were  gathered  from  the  slave  markets  of 


214  WOMAN 

Samos,  Lesbos,  Cyprus,  and  the  Ionian  cities,  where 
every  year  large  numbers  of  wretched  human  beings,  who 
had  been  torn  from  their  homes,  usually  as  a  result  of 
war,  were  exposed  for  sale.  These  included  many  young 
girls  who  had  been  taken  captive  in  the  sacking  of  cities 
or  had  been  stolen  from  their  homes  by  the  fiends  in 
human  form  who  made  it  a  business  to  secure  maidens  of 
promising  beauty  or  charm  for  the  bawdy  ho'uses  of  the 
Greek  cities.  From  these  markets,  too,  came  usually 
the  hetaerae  of  the  second  class,  who  were  likewise  slaves, 
but  were  the  property  of  panders  or  procuresses,  who 
bought  girls  of  tender  age  and  educated  them  for  the  sake 
of  the  wealth  to  be  acquired  from  traffic  in  lust.  Aged 
and  faded  hetasrae,  who  had  passed  their  lives  in  gross 
licentiousness  and  had  finally  lost  their  hold  on  the  pub- 
lic, especially  devoted  themselves  to  this  horrible  trade. 
They  owned  their  own  houses,  and  had  in  conjunction 
with  them  regular  schools  or  institutes  for  the  training  of 
hetaerse.  In  these  institutes  the  girls  were  trained  in 
physical  culture,  in  music  and  dancing,  and  frequently 
in  all  the  branches  of  learning  that  were  popular  at  the 
time.  They  became  experts  in  all  the  arts  of  pleasure, 
and  were  offered  every  advantage  that  would  make  them 
pleasing  to  men.  From  these  institutes  often  emerged 
young  women  who  played  an  important  r61e  in  the  social 
and  intellectual  life  of  the  day,  as  Leontium,  Gnathaena, 
Pythionice,  and  others.  The  names  of  certain  of  these 
establishments  are  preserved,  as  those  of  Nicarete,  of 
Bacchis,  and  of  the  Thracian  Sinope,  who  removed  her 
institute  from  yEgina  to  Athens.  Girls  in  such  establish- 
ments remained  at  all  times  in  the  relation  of  slaves,  and 
were  compelled  always  to  surrender  to  the  mistresses 
or  the  panders  the  funds  they  collected  from  the  sale  of 
their  favors.  As  young  girls  they  acted  as  musicians  or 


APHRODITE    PANDEMUS 

dancers  at  the  banquets  of  the  men,  and  as  they  developed 
into  womanhood  they  entered  upon  their  careers  as  regular 
courtesans.  Often  they  were  hired  out  for  a  considerable 
time;  or  if  a  good  purchaser  presented  himself,  they  were 
sold  outright,  and  lived  as  the  kept  mistress  of  a  single 
lover.  From  him  they  usually  obtained  their  freedom,  in 
time,  either  as  a  mark  of  favor,  or  as  the  readiest  means  of 
ridding  himself  of  a  burden  when  the  lover  had  wearied 
of  the  hetasra's  charm. 

Slave  girls  who  obtained  their  freedom  belonged  to  the 
third  and  most  numerous  hetasra  class;  they  lived  on  a 
fully  independent  footing,  and  conducted  their  business  on 
their  own  account.  This  class  attached  themselves  espe- 
cially to  young  and  inexperienced  men,  preferably  to 
youths  who  were  still  under  parental  control.  They  fre- 
quented the  schools  of  rhetoricians  and  philosophers  and 
the  studios  of  artists,  and  sought  in  every  way  possible 
to  make  themselves  interesting  and  indispensable  to  men. 
The  jeunesse  doree  of  the  day  found  in  association  with 
these  young  and  beautiful  and  independent  damsels  their 
especial  delight.  At  the  banquets  and  drinking  bouts  of 
the  young  men,  they  were  invited  to  take  part;  and  the 
gay  and  frivolous  youths  would  assemble  in  numbers  at 
their  houses,  or  take  them  on  pleasure  trips  in  the  suburbs 
of  the  city,  and  would  frequently  engage  in  serenades  and 
torchlight  processions  in  their  honor.  Such  a  life  was  full 
of  pitfalls  for  the  young  men,  and  they  frequently  brought 
down  on  themselves  the  rage  of  parents  for  their  inter- 
course with  these  sirens.  The  avarice  and  greed  of  women 
of  this  class  was  such  that  they  led  their  lovers  into  every 
form  of  deceit  to  obtain  for  them  money  and  presents.  To 
purloin  and  sell  a  mother's  jewels  and  to  contract  debts  in 
a  father's  name  were  frequent  devices  to  which  youths 
resorted  whose  parents  kept  a  tight  hold  on  the  purse 


216  WOMAN 

strings.  These  heroines  of  the  demi-monde  also  sought 
to  draw  their  lovers  away  from  serious  pursuits.  Lucian, 
in  his  Dialogues  of  Courtesans,  recounts  an  interesting  con- 
versation between  two  heterae,  Chelidonion  [Little  Swal- 
low] and  Drosis  [Dewdrop],  about  a  youth  whom  his 
father  had  suddenly  checked  in  his  wild  career  and  placed 
in  the  hands  of  a  wise  and  artful  tutor,  to  the  end  that  he 
might  be  drawn  away  from  his  wild  associations  and  given 
instruction  in  philosophy. 

The  fourth  and  most  elevated  hetaera  class  was  that 
of  freeborn  women,  who  were  attracted  to  this  calling 
because  of  dissatisfaction  with  the  restraint  of  home  and 
longing  for  the  ease  and  independent  life  which  it  seemed 
to  offer.  Frequently,  the  daughters  of  citizens,  through 
the  poverty  or  greed  of  their  parents,  or  their  own  wil- 
fulness,  were  driven  to  a  life  of  shame.  Usually,  they 
changed  their  names,  to  bring  forgetfulness  of  their  former 
standing,  and  they  sought  by  outward  splendor  to  make 
up  for  the  loss  of  virtue.  To  us  in  this  day  such  a  change 
seems  most  disgraceful;  but  to  the  Greeks  it  appeared  to 
be  in  many  instances  nothing  more  serious  than  a  change 
of  patron  goddess.  Thus  the  maiden  transferred  herself 
from  the  protection  of  one  of  the  austere  virgin  goddesses, 
Artemis  and  Athena,  to  that  of  the  gracious  and  seductive 
Paphian  goddess;  or  the  widow,  who  with  the  death  of 
her  husband  had  lost  her  means  of  subsistence,  would 
renounce  Hera,  the  goddess  of  wedded  love,  for  the 
frivolous  and  light-minded  Aphrodite.  This  transfer  was 
usually  accompanied  with  solemn  religious  ceremonies. 
Greek  epigrammatists  frequently  give  us  a  poetical  treat- 
ment of  such  life  histories,  and  we  thereby  gain  glimpses 
into  the  woes  of  many  a  feminine  heart;  thus  we  have 
a  pathetic  genre  picture  of  a  maiden,  who,  weary  of 
the  spindle  and  the  service  of  Athena,  betakes  herself 


APHRODITE    PANDEMUS  217 

to  the  patron  goddess  of  the  hetasrae  and  pledges  to  her 
for  her  protection  a  tithe  of  all  her  earnings  in  her  new 
calling. 

The  giving  of  votive  offerings  to  Aphrodite  for  successes 
and  rich  gains  in  their  dealings  with  men  was  a  customary 
act  of  "  pious  "  heteraB.  Toilet  articles  which  enhance 
beauty,  and  costly  gifts,  such  as  statues,  were  frequently 
dedicated  to  the  goddess.  The  hetasrae  who  followed  in 
the  wake  of  the  Athenian  army  led  by  Pericles  to  Samos 
built  a  temple  to  Aphrodite  from  the  tithes  of  their  gains. 
This  giving  of  votive  offerings  is  frequently  the  subject 
of  Greek  epigrams. 

The  daughters  or  widows  of  citizens  constituted  but  the 
smaller  number  of  hetaeras  of  this  class.  The  larger  num- 
ber were  stranger-women,  chiefly  from  Ionia,  who  came 
to  Athens,  attracted  by  its  prominence  in  politics  and  the 
arts,  that  they  might  play  their  r61e  on  a  larger  and  more 
brilliant  stage.  In  the  various  cities  of  Asia  Minor,  there 
were  groups  of  freeborn  women  who  had  broken  away 
from  the  conventional  bonds  and  had  devoted  themselves 
to  intellectual  and  artistic  pursuits  and  to  the  cultivation 
of  every  personal  grace  and  charm.  It  was  natural  that 
they  and  others  like  them  from  other  parts  of  Hellas 
should  flock  to  Athens.  Such  women,  though  they  were 
politically  only  resident  aliens,  were  granted  great  freedom 
and  had  the  benefit  of  all  the  intellectual  advantages  the 
city  afforded.  Marriage  was  the  only  political  sin  these 
beautiful  and  cultivated  strangers  could  commit;  they 
might  do  anything  else  that  they  liked.  Hence  they  en- 
tered into  relations  with  citizens  as  "companions,"  and 
soon  became  an  important  factor  in  the  social  life  of  the 
day.  Bringing  with  them  from  their  homes  all  the  at- 
tractions and  graces  that  attended  the  service  of  the 
Muses,  they  undoubtedly  exercised  a  beneficial  influence 


21 8  WOMAN 

on  the  social  customs  and  manners,  but  they  also  contrib- 
uted much  to  the  general  demoralization  of  the  Athenian 
people. 

From  the  number  of  these  women  of  foreign  birth  came 
the  most  beautiful  and  distinguished,  as  also  the  most 
selfish  and  proud,  representatives  of  the  hetaera  class. 
Through  their  beauty  and  the  outward  splendor  of  their 
station  they  posed  as  veritable  priestesses  of  Aphrodite, 
while  through  their  intellectual  brilliancy  and  their  social 
charms  they  exercised  a  great  influence  over  the  daily  life 
of  the  Athenians. 

To  this  class  belonged  the  celebrated  "daughters  of  the 
people,"  for  whose  favor  the  most  prominent  and  dignified 
men  of  the  State  became  suppliants.  As  Propertius  sang 
of  Lais,  they  could  literally  boast  that  "all  Hellas  lay 
before  their  doors."  Among  these  hetaerae  we  see  the 
high  life  of  the  day  on  a  most  brilliant  scale.  Their  dwell- 
ings were  most  sumptuous  in  their  appointments;  the  walls 
were  painted  in  frescoes,  pieces  of  statuary  and  rich  tapes- 
tries embellished  their  apartments,  while  the  grounds  about 
their  houses  were  laid  off  with  flower  beds  and  beautiful 
fountains.  Their  apparel  was  of  the  richest  fabrics  and 
was  made  up  in  the  most  fashionable  styles.  They  pos- 
sessed numberless  jewels  and  ornaments  of  enormous 
value.  They  never  appeared  in  public  without  an  im- 
posing cortege  of  female  slaves  and  eunuchs.  Much  of  the 
etiquette  of  the  courts  of  princes  was  maintained  in  their 
establishments. 

To  keep  up  this  elaborate  state,  they  sold  their  favors  at 
almost  shameless  prices.  Thus  the  elder  Lais,  Gnathasna, 
and  Phryne  were  celebrated  for  their  incredible  demands. 
There  is  a  story  that  the  orator  Demosthenes  made  a  trip 
to  Corinth  and  paid  ten  thousand  drachmas  for  a  single 
evening  with  the  younger  Lais.  As  has  been  intimated, 


APHRODITE    PANDEMUS  219 

Corinth  possessed  the  most  voluptuous,  Athens  the  most 
highly  cultivated  hetaerse.  The  excessive  charges  of  "the 
Corinthian  maiden  "  gave  occasion  for  the  proverb:  "  Not 
every  man  can  journey  to  Corinth."  Not  only  the  cele- 
brated beauties  made  such  exorbitant  demands,  but  even 
the  ordinary  courtesans  asked  prices  which  forbade  to 
men  of  moderate  means  intercourse  with  them. 

Beauty  and  wealth  were  the  factors  which  determined 
the  social  status  of  the  hetaerse,  and  with  the  fading  of 
beauty  and  the  squandering  of  their  gains  many  celebrated 
hetaerae  fell  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest  station. 

The  principal  classification  of  the  queens  of  the  demi- 
monde, however,  was  into  "domestic"  and  "learned" 
hetasrse.  The  former  attracted  chiefly  by  their  beauty 
and  their  social  grace;  the  latter,  by  their  native  wit, 
their  vivacity,  and  their  intellectual  endowments.  These 
gifted  women  entered  into  intimate  relations  with  the 
philosophers  and  rhetoricians  of  the  day;  they  visited 
the  lecture  halls,  devoted  themselves  to  earnest  study, 
and  carried  on  their  prostitution  under  the  protection  of 
philosophy.  They  allied  themselves  with  the  various 
philosophical  schools,  and  by  their  manner  of  bestowing 
their  favors  sought  to  advance  the  interests  of  the  sect 
they  espoused. 

They  found,  too,  in  the  pursuit  of  philosophy  the  justi- 
fication of  their  calling.  The  hetasrse  of  the  Academy 
claimed  that  they  were  merely  putting  into  practice  Plato's 
doctrine  of  the  community  of  women.  The  followers  of 
the  Cyrenaic  school,  with  its  doctrine  of  moderation  in  the 
pursuit  of  pleasure,  maintained  that  they  carried  out 
the  maxims  of  Aristippus  in  their  pursuit  of  the  joys  of 
love.  The  female  adherents  of  the  Cynics,  or  "the 
Bitches,"  as  they  were  called,  sought  to  surpass  one 
another  in  taking  the  beasts  as  models  of  imitation.  The 


220  WOMAN 

Dialecticians  found  in  their  system  the  widest  range  for 
feminine  cleverness  of  speech,  and  defended  hetairism  with 
the  greatest  subtlety  and  the  most  ingenious  sophism. 
The  feminine  Epicureans  saw  in  the  teachings  of  their 
school,  with  its  doctrine  of  friendship  and  of  the  broadest 
cultivation  of  the  sensibilities,  the  fullest  justification  for 
the  pursuit  of  sexual  enjoyment,  and  they  sought  to  illus- 
trate the  greatest  voluptuousness  and  refinement  in  their 
methods  of  gratifying  animal  passion. 

The  hetasras  of  the  various  schools  surpassed  the  men 
in  their  imitation  of  the  jargon  and  the  manners  of  the 
leading  lights  of  their  systems.  Many  of  the  philosophers 
yielded  themselves  readily  to  the  seductions  of  their  beau- 
tiful and  clever  adherents;  yet  there  were  some  choice 
spirits  who  deplored  the  demoralizing  tendencies  which 
hetairism  brought  into  serious  pursuits,  and  protested  in 
no  uncertain  language. 

These  philosopher-heteras  were  indisputably  the  most 
interesting  phenomenon  in  the  social  life  of  ancient  times, 
to  which  the  later  Greek  world  and  modern  times  afford 
no  adequate  parallel.  They  were  present  always  at 
theatrical  exhibitions  and  on  all  public  occasions  when 
respectable  women  remained  at  home.  They  took  an  ab- 
sorbing interest  in  politics  and  in  all  public  affairs;  they 
discussed  with  the  citizens  the  burning  questions  of  the 
day;  they  criticised  the  acts  of  statesmen,  the  speeches 
of  orators,  the  dramas  of  the  poets,  the  productions  of 
painters  and  sculptors.  They  exerted,  in  a  word,  an  enor- 
mous influence  for  good  or  ill  on  the  social  and  political 
life  of  the  day;  while  they  themselves  had  the  conscious- 
ness of  a  mission  to  perform  in  having  in  their  hands  the 
real  power  of  their  sex. 

Almost  every  great  man  in  Athens  had  his  "  companion," 
usually  in  addition  to  a  lawful  wife.  Plato  had  Archeanassa, 


APHRODITE    PANDEMUS  221 

to  whom  he  wrote  sonnets;  but  we  know  not  what  were 
her  attractions.  "For  dear  to  me  Theoris  is,"  sings 
Sophocles;  and  we  should  like  to  know  more  of  Archippa, 
to  whom  he  left  his  fortune.  Aristotle  had  his  Herpyllis, 
and  the  eloquent  Isocrates  his  Metaneira.  Speusippus, 
Plato's  successor,  found  a  "companion"  in  Lasthenia, 
and  Epicurus  in  Leontium.  It  is  difficult  to  believe  that 
all  these  for  whom  the  learned  men  of  the  day  showed 
such  regard  were  vicious  women;  in  fact,  some  of  them 
are  described  as  noble  and  high-minded. 

"  She  was  a  citizen,  without  a  guardian 
Or  any  near  relations,  and  her  manner 
Pure,  and  on  virtue's  strictest  model  form'd, 
A  genuine  mistress  [haipa}  :  for  the  rest  of  the  crew 
Bring  into  disrepute,  by  their  vile  manner, 
A  name  which  in  itcolf  has  nothing  wrong." 

But  if  the  careers  of  the  learned  hetasrse  were  influen- 
tial, they  did  not  equal  in  brilliancy  and  power  those  of  the 
more  celebrated  domestic  hetasrae.  The  vastness  of  the  in- 
fluence of  this  latter  class  is  best  shown  by  naming  the 
prominent  rulers  of  various  periods  who  were  under 
the  domination  of  their  "companions."  We  have  in  an 
earlier  chapter  called  attention  to  the  work  of  Thargelia  in 
moulding  Persian  sentiment  before  the  invasions  of  Darius 
and  Xerxes,  and  to  the  influence  of  Aspasia  during  the 
Periclean  Age.  Many  later  heteeras  played  prominent  rQles 
in  the  courts  of  princes  and  kings,  and  not  infrequently 
enjoyed  royal  honors.  Leaena,  Myrrhine,  and  Lamia  were 
favorites  of  Demetrius  the  Besieger,  and  the  latter  shared 
with  him  all  except  the  throne.  Thais,  for  a  time  beloved 
of  Alexander  the  Great,  and  at  whose  nod  he  set  fire  to 
the  palace  of  the  Persian  kings,  later  bore  two  sons  and 
a  daughter  to  Ptolemy  Soter,  the  first  Macedonian  king 


222  WOMAN 

of  Egypt.  Pythionice  and  Glycera  were  in  high  favor  at 
the  court  of  Harpalus.  Hieronymus  of  Syracuse  elevated 
a  beautiful  prostitute  named  Pytho  from  the  bawdy  house 
to  his  palace  and  throne.  Ptolemy  Philadelphus  was  cele- 
brated for  the  number  of  his  mistresses,  among  them 
being  a  Didyma,  a  Blistyche,  a  Stratonice,  a  Myrtion. 
Ptolemy  Philopator  was  under  the  degrading  influence  of 
an  Agathoclea,  daughter  of  the  procuress  OEnanthe,  both 
of  whom,  in  the  trenchant  phrase  of  Plutarch,  trod  dia- 
dems under  their  feet  and  were  finally  murdered  by  the 
Alexandrian  mob. 

Some  heterse  inspired  such  regard  that  they  were 
honored  with  public  monuments.  The  first  instance  of 
this  in  Athens  was  in  the  case  of  Leasna,  who,  after  the 
murder  of  the  tyrant  Hipparchus,  bit  out  her  tongue 
rather  than  reveal  the  accomplices  of  her  lover,  Aris- 
togiton.  The  Athenians  at  this  early  date  felt  a  reluc- 
tance to  erect  a  statue  representing  a  hetasra,  but  they 
placed  on  the  Acropolis  a  bronze  lioness  to  commemo- 
rate perpetually  the  name  of  Leaena,  and  to  preserve  the 
memory  of  her  noble  deed.  In  honor  of  Phryne  there 
was  a  marble  statue  at  Thespiae  sculptured  by  Praxit- 
eles, as  well  as  another  of  gold  at  Delphi.  In  Sparta,  in 
her  degenerate  days,  there  was  a  monument  to  the  cele- 
brated hetaera  Cottine.  There  were  also  famous  statues 
of  Lais,  Glycera,  Pythionice,  Neasra,  Clino,  Blistyche, 
Stratonice,  and  other  women  of  pleasure.  To  Lamia,  the 
renowned  flute  player,  and  to  her  rival,  Leasna  of  Cor- 
inth, favorites  of  Demetrius  the  Besieger,  the  servile 
Athenians  erected  temples,  in  which  they  were  revered 
as  goddesses.  There  was  also  in  Athens  a  most  beauti- 
ful and  costly  tomb  in  honor  of  Pythionice,  erected  by 
the  Macedonian  governor  Harpalus,  described  by  Pausa- 
nias  as  "the  best  worth  seeing  of  all  ancient  tombs." 


APHRODITE   PANDEMUS  223 

Such  are  instances  of  the  tributes  offered  by  the  beauty- 
loving  Greeks  to  these  beautiful  but  light-minded  women, 
who  were  regarded  as  incarnations,  as  it  were,  of  the 
goddess  Aphrodite  herself. 


"  'Tis  not  for  nothing  that  where'er  we  go 
We  find  a  temple  of  hetasrae  there, 
But  nowhere  one  to  any  wedded  wife," 


sings  one  of  the  poets  of  the  Anthology. 

The  characteristic  traits  of  these  reigning  queens  of  the 
demi-monde  were  in  almost  all  cases  the  same.  The  prin- 
cipal attributes  of  their  characters  were  selfishness  and 
greed.  With  all  their  outward  good  nature  and  apparent 
warmth  of  disposition,  they  were  at  all  times  "marble- 
hearted,"  cold,  incapable  of  any  noble  emotion,  and  im- 
pervious to  the  stirrings  of  true  love.  There  are  a  few 
exceptional  cases  of  self-sacrificing  devotion,  as  of  Leaena, 
and  of  Timandra,  who  stood  by  Alcibiades  in  all  his  mis- 
fortune, but  their  exceeding  rarity  proves  the  rule.  A  few 
were  of  good  character  and  were  faithful  to  the  relations 
which  they  had  formed;  many  were  merely  fair  and  frail; 
while  most  of  them  descended  to  the  lowest  depths  of  cor- 
ruption and  depravity.  While  the  deportment  of  those 
hetasrse  who  cultivated  every  womanly  charm  presents 
much  that  is  attractive,  yet  their  manner  of  life  has  been 
aptly  compared  to  baskets  of  noxious  weeds  and  garbage, 
covered  over  with  roses.  Extravagance,  debauchery,  and 
dissolute  habits  were  sure  to  work  out  in  time  the  attendant 
ills  of  wretchedness,  destitution,  and  penury.  Realizing 
that  for  them  there  was  possible  no  such  thing  as  true 
love  and  domestic  happiness,  they  became  rapacious  and 
vindictive,  cynical  and  ill-tempered.  Nothing  could  be 
more  fearful  than  the  pictures  which  the  comic  poets  and 


224  WOMAN 

satirists  draw  of  some  of  these  women;   Anaxilas,  for 
example,  thus  describes  them  as  a  class: 

"  The  man  whoe'er  has  loved  a  courtesan, 
Will  say  that  no  more  lawless,  worthless  race 
Can  anywhere  be  found :  for  what  ferocious, 
Unsociable  she-dragon,  what  Chimaera, 
Though  it  breathe  fire  from  its  mouth,  what  Charybdis, 
What  three-headed  Scylla,  dog  o'  the  sea, 
Or  hydra,  sphynx,  or  raging  lioness, 
Or  viper,  or  winged  harpy  (greedy  race), 
Could  go  beyond  those  most  accursed  harlots? 
There  is  no  monster  greater.    They  alone 
Surpass  all  other  evils  put  together." 

Their  outward  behavior  and  manner  were  characterized 
by  great  elegance.  One  comic  poet  remarks  that  they 
took  their  food  most  delicately  and  not  like  the  citizen- 
women,  who  "  stuffed  their  cheeks  and  tore  off  the  meat." 
Their  speech,  however,  was  unrestrained,  and  they  de- 
lighted in  indelicate  witticisms  and  doubles  entendres. 
Machon  made  a  collection  of  the  witty  remarks  of  the 
most  celebrated  hetasras,  in  his  book  of  anecdotes.  In 
Athenaeus  we  also  have  specimens  of  their  witticisms. 
Sinope  of  JEgma.  was  particularly  famous  for  her  coarse 
wit,  and  had  many  clever  encounters  with  the  brilliant 
men  of  her  day.  To  preserve  or  to  enhance  their  natural 
beauty,  the  hetaeras  were  given  to  the  use  of  cosmetics. 
Eubulus,  in  a  fragment,  thus  represents  a  citizen-woman 
reviling  the  much-hated  class: 

"  By  Jove,  we  are  not  painted  with  vermilion, 
Nor  with  dark  mulberry  juice,  as  you  are  often : 
And  then,  if  in  the  summer  you  go  out, 
Two  rivulets  of  dark,  discolored  hue 
Flow  from  your  eyes,  and  sweat  drops  from  your  jaws 
And  makes  a  scarlet  furrow  down  your  neck, 
And  the  light  hair  which  wantons  o'er  your  face 
Seems  gray,  so  thickly  is  it  plastered  o'er." 


APHRODITE   PANDEMUS  225 

The  secret  mysteries  of  hetairism,  which  were  cele- 
brated chiefly  by  the  Lesbian  and  Samian  hetasras  and 
which  occasioned  a  hetaera  literature,  prepared  in  part  by 
such  members  of  the  craft  as  Philaenis,  Elephantine,  Niko, 
and  others,  constitute  an  important  aspect  of  our  subject, 
which  must  be  briefly  noticed.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  the 
women  of  pleasure  of  Lesbos  and  Samos  excelled  in  the  in- 
vention and  practice  of  shameful,  unnatural  arts,  and  that 
the  lasciviousness  of  the  Lesbian  courtesans  led  to  the 
loathsome  form  of  lust  known  as  "Lesbian  love,"  which 
has  become  proverbial. 

Plutarch  expressly  distinguishes  from  the  hetaeras  a 
class  known  as  "  emancipated  women,"  whose  preemi- 
nent virtue,  however,  was  certainly  not  modesty.  To  this 
class  belonged  many  of  the  flower  girls,  wreath  weavers, 
painters'  and  sculptors'  models,  who  earned  a  living  by 
means  of  their  good  looks,  though  they  did  not  follow  a 
life  of  shame.  The  best  known  representative  of  this 
class  was  Glycera,  whom  Goethe  has  immortalized.  She 
was  a  native  of  Sicyon,  and  supported  herself  by  the  sale 
of  flower  wreaths,  which  she  knew  how  to  make  most 
artistically,  for  use  at  banquets,  funerals,  and  for  adorn- 
ment of  the  door  of  one's  sweetheart.  The  painter  Pau- 
sias,  likewise  a  native  of  Sicyon,  loved  her  passionately 
and  used  to  enter  into  competition  with  her,  whether 
she  could  wreathe  flowers  more  artistically  than  he  him- 
self could  paint  them.  He  painted  a  portrait  which  repre- 
sented her  seated  with  a  flower  wreath;  it  was  so  excellent 
that  the  Roman  general  Lucullus,  after  the  Mithridatic  War, 
when  he  was  making  a  collection  of  statues  and  paintings, 
paid  two  talents  for  a  copy. 

It  is  not  strange  that  many  of  the  hetasras,  noted  for 
their  superlative  beauty  and  for  their  cultivation  of  art 
and  literature  and  the  refinements  of  life,  should  attain 


226  WOMAN 

historical  celebrity  and,  as  heroines  of  the  demi-monde, 
should  influence  for  weal  or  woe  the  destinies  of  Greece. 
We  shall  briefly  notice  important  incidents  in  the  careers 
of  a  few  of  the  members  of  this  prominent  class. 

Gnathsena,  daughter  of  the  panderess  Sinope,  was  one 
of  the  most  keen-witted  and  clever  of  Athenian  hetaeras. 
She  was  noted  for  her  happy  play  on  words.  She  also 
devised  a  set  of  rules  for  the  conduct  of  dinners  and 
banquets,  which  lovers  had  to  observe  when  they  visited 
her  or  her  daughter,  Gnathaenion.  In  this  she  imitated 
the  most  cultured  hosts  of  Athens,  and  exhibited  a  regard 
for  social  forms  which  throws  a  commendable  light  on  the 
deportment  of  the  more  cultivated  hetaerae.  Gnathaenion, 
the  daughter,  was  for  some  time  the  favorite  of  the  comic 
poet  Diphilus,  and  he  had  many  a  brilliant  passage  of 
repartee  with  the  mother  on  the  occasion  of  his  visits  to 
the  daughter. 

Melitta  was  another  famous  hetaera,  beloved  for  her 
beautiful  figure  and  voice  as  well  as  for  her  pleasing  con- 
versation and  sprightliness.  As  each  of  her  lovers  said, 
"the  fair  Melitta  was  his  madness,"  she  was  also  called 
Mania.  She  was  one  of  the  many  favorites  of  Demetrius 
the  Besieger.  More  celebrated,  however,  than  Melitta  as 
a  favorite  of  Demetrius  was  the  beautiful  Lamia,  the  most 
renowned  flute  player  of  antiquity.  She  was  the  daughter 
of  a  prominent  Athenian  citizen,  by  name  Cleanor,  and, 
choosing  to  follow  the  independent  life  of  a  hetsera,  she 
made  her  native  city  the  first  scene  of  her  exploits.  From 
here  she  journeyed  to  Alexandria,  where  by  her  art  and 
her  beauty  she  speedily  won  recognition  at  the  court  of 
Ptolemy.  Accompanying  Ptolemy  Soter  in  his  naval  war 
against  Antigonus  and  Demetrius,  she  fell  a  prisoner  into 
the  hands  of  the  latter.  Although  her  youth  and  beauty 
were  already  on  the  wane,  she  succeeded  in  captivating 


APHRODITE   PANDEMUS  227 

Demetrius,  who  was  much  younger  than  herself,  so  that, 
as  Plutarch  states,  he  appeared  to  be  actually  her  lover, 
while  with  other  women  he  was  only  the  object  of  love. 
Lamia  ruled  him  completely  and  led  him  into  many  ex- 
cesses. Thus  he  once  compelled  the  Athenians  to  collect 
for  him  at  short  notice  two  hundred  and  fifty  talents,  and 
when  it  was  finally  brought  to  him  he  sent  it  straightway 
to  Lamia  and  her  companions,  "for  pin  money."  Lamia 
herself  on  one  occasion  exacted  from  the  citizens  an  enor- 
mous sum  of  money  to  prepare  a  magnificent  banquet  for 
Demetrius.  This  banquet,  because  of  the  exorbitant  ex- 
penses which  it  occasioned,  was  so  extraordinarily  notori- 
ous that  Lycurgus  of  Samos  wrote  a  book  about  it.  On 
this  account,  a  comic  poet  characterized  Lamia  as  the  true 
Helepolis,  or  city  destroyer,  the  name  of  one  of  the  most 
famous  engines  of  war  OT  Demetrius.  Demetrius  remained 
passionately  enamored  of  her,  even  after  her  beauty  had 
faded.  As  a  means  of  flattering  Demetrius,  the  Athenians 
erected  altars  to  her,  made  propitiatory  offerings,  and  cele- 
brated her  festival.  The  Thebans  went  so  far  as  to  erect 
a  temple  in  her  honor,  and  worshipped  her  as  Aphrodite 
Lamia. 

Pythionice,  the  favorite  of  Harpalus,  the  friend  and 
confidant  of  Alexander  the  Great,  partook  of  honors  which 
rivalled  those  of  Lamia.  During  the  most  brilliant  period 
of  Harpalus's  career,  Pythionice  was  summoned  to  Bab- 
ylon, where  she  shared  his  honors  and  bore  the  title  of 
a  queen  of  Babylon.  A  letter  from  the  historian  Theo- 
pompus  to  Alexander  is  extant,  in  which  he  speaks  of  the 
passionate  devotion  of  Harpalus  to  his  favorite,  and  thus 
alludes  to  her:  "To  this  Pythionice,  a  slave  of  the  flute 
player  Bacchis,  who  in  turn  was  a  slave  of  the  hetasra 
Sinope,  Harpalus  erected  two  monuments,  one  at  Athens 
and  one  at  Babylon,  at  a  cost  of  more  than  two  hundred 


228  WOMAN 

talents,  which  seemed  cheap  to  that  spendthrift;  and,  in 
addition,  he  had  a  precinct  and  a  sanctuary  dedicated  to 
her,  which  he  named  the  temple  and  altar  of  Aphrodite 
Pythionice.  She  bore  him  a  daughter,  and  died  before  the 
sudden  change  which  came  in  his  fortunes." 

Another  favorite  of  Harpalus,  and  later  of  the  celebrated 
deformed  comic  poet  Menander,  was  Glycera,  the  daugh- 
ter of  Thalassis.  She  was  a  native  of  Athens,  and  passed 
most  of  her  time  in  the  company  of  litterateurs  and  phi- 
losophers. The  Megarian  philosopher  Stilpo  once  accused 
her,  at  a  banquet,  of  misleading  the  youth  through  her 
seductive  art.  She  made  the  reply:  "Stilpo,  we  are  in 
this  under  like  condemnation.  It  is  said  of  you  that  you 
impart  to  your  pupils  profitless  and  eristic  sophisms,  of  me 
that  I  teach  them  erotic  sophisms."  Some  of  Glycera's 
letters  to  her  poet  lover  Menander,  still  extant,  show  how 
warm  a  sympathy  existed  between  the  two,  and  how  deli- 
cate a  sentiment  could  characterize  such  a  union. 

One  of  the  names  of  hetaerae  famous  in  both  ancient 
and  modern  times  is  that  of  Lais,  which  belonged  to  two 
Greek  women  celebrated  for  their  extraordinary  beauty, 
who  are  differentiated  by  being  known  as  Lais  the  Elder 
and  Lais  the  Younger. 

The  elder  and  indisputably  more  famous  of  the  two  was 
the  daughter  of  that  hetasra,  Timandra,  who  remained 
faithful  to  Alcibiades  in  his  evil  fortunes.  As  a  seven- 
year-old  maiden,  Lais  was  taken  captive  by  the  Athenians 
during  the  sack  of  her  birthplace,  Hyccara  in  Sicily,  and 
was  brought  as  a  slave  to  Corinth.  Here  she  was  early 
initiated  into  the  arts  of  gallantry  and  was  given  a  thorough 
training  in  the  culture  of  the  day. 

The  physical  charms  of  Lais  developed  into  a  beauty 
rarely  witnessed.  Her  bosom  was  of  such  indescribable 
perfection  that  sculptors  and  painters  took  it  as  a  model 


APHRODITE   PANDEMUS  229 

in  their  creations  of  the  ideal  female  form.  She  was  re- 
garded as  surpassing  not  only  all  her  contemporaries,  but 
also  all  the  famous  beauties  of  earlier  times;  and  later 
ages  regarded  her  as  the  prototype  of  womanly  beauty, 
and  delighted  in  giving  lengthy  and  minute  descriptions 
of  her  charms,  as,  for  example,  that  by  the  sophist  Aris- 
tenetus  in  the  first  of  his  fifty  erotic  epistles. 

Soon  after  her  first  appearance,  Lais  was  talked  of,  was 
celebrated,  was  deified,  in  all  Hellenic  lands.  It  was  con- 
sidered good  fortune,  as  a  Greek  poet  expressed  it,  that 
Lais,  the  most  beautiful  of  her  sex,  adopted  the  hetera 
life;  for  were  she  not  accessible  to  all,  there  would  have 
been  in  Greece  a  conflict  comparable  only  to  that  over 
Argive  Helen. 

The  reputation  of  her  beauty  occasioned  in  a  short  time 
a  formidable  immigration  to  Corinth  of  the  most  wealthy 
and  distinguished  men,  partly  to  enjoy  her  favor,  partly 
to  gaze  in  wonder  at  her  charms,  and  partly  to  study 
this  paragon  of  female  beauty  for  imitation  in  works  of 
art.  From  the  homage  that  she  received,  and  especially 
the  wealth  that  was  poured  at  her  feet  by  her  lovers,  she 
was  soon  rendered  so  proud  and  selfish  that  she  secluded 
herself  from  all  except  the  richest.  Her  proud  heart,  how- 
ever, was  not  entirely  closed  to  emotions  of  love.  She 
took  a  fancy  to  the  Cynic  philosopher  Diogenes,  in  spite 
of  his  filth  and  brusqueness;  and  >£lian  tells  the  story  of 
her  inclination  for  a  young  athlete,  Eubatas  of  Gyrene, 
who  had  come  to  Corinth  for  the  games,  leaving  behind 
a  most  beautiful  and  beloved  wife.  "When  Lais  be- 
came acquainted  with  Eubatas  of  Gyrene."  says  >Elian, 
"  she  was  so  enamored  of  him  that  she  made  a  proposal 
of  marriage.  In  order  not  to  bring  down  on  himself  the 
vengeance  of  the  powerful  hetasra,  he  became  betrothed 
to  her,  but  yet  continued  to  live  a  continent  life.  At 


230  WOMAN 

the  conclusion  of  the  games,  he  had  to  fulfil  his  promise. 
But  after  he  had  been  declared  victor,  in  order  to  avoid 
the  appearance  of  breaking  faith  with  the  courtesan,  he 
had  a  picture  of  Lais  painted,  and  took  it  with  him  to 
Cyrene,  affirming  that  he  had  not  broken  his  promise,  but 
had  brought  Lais  home  with  him.  As  a  reward  for  his 
fidelity,  his  virtuous  wife  in  Cyrene  had  a  statue  erected 
in  his  honor." 

Aristippus,  the  founder  of  the  Cyrenaic  school  of  phi- 
losophy, tried  in  vain  to  win  the  love  of  this  beautiful 
heteera,  though,  of  all  her  lovers,  he  passed  the  most  time 
in  her  society,  and  on  her  lavished  considerable  sums  of 
money. 

Lais  gained  much  knowledge  from  intercourse  with  this 
learned  philosopher,  so  that  she  ranked  not  only  as  the 
most  beautiful,  but  also  as  one  of  the  most  brilliant  women 
of  her  time.  She  allied  herself  with  the  Cyrenaic  school, 
whose  system  of  philosophy  appealed  to  her  much  more 
naturally  than  did  the  gross  system  of  her  favorite,  Diog- 
enes, who  on  his  side  sought  in  every  way  to  win  the 
celebrated  beauty  to  Cynicism.  Lais  had  nothing  but 
contempt,  however,  for  the  moral  claims  of  philosophy. 
"  I  do  not  understand,"  she  said,  "  what  is  meant  by  the 
austerity  of  philosophers;  for  they  of  this  fine  name  are 
as  much  in  my  power  as  the  rest  of  the  citizens." 

The  charms  of  Lais,  though  so  unapproachable  in  their 
bloom,  yet  proved  transient,  and  pitiable  was  the  meta- 
morphosis which  the  brilliancy  of  the  famous  beauty  under- 
went with  their  fading.  Wealthy  admirers  became  fewer 
and  fewer,  and  finally  they  ceased  to  appear,  and  with 
them  her  resources  failed.  The  once  proud  beauty  be- 
came the  plaything  of  every  man.  She  sought  to  drown 
her  sorrow  in  the  wine  cup — a  practice  altogether  too  com- 
mon among  Greek  women  of  disreputable  life.  At  this 


APHRODITE    PANDEMUS  231 

sad  period  of  her  career,  Lais  dedicated  her  mirror,  as 
being  an  unpleasant  reminder  of  her  lost  beauty,  to  the 
goddess  to  whose  service  she  had  devoted  her  life.  In  her 
later  years,  she  followed  the  vile  trade  of  a  procuress. 

After  her  death,  the  Corinthians  remembered  what  a 
reputation  it  had  given  their  city  to  be  the  abiding  place 
of  so  famous  a  woman,  and  they  erected  to  her  a  mauso- 
leum at  Craneion,  a  cypress  grove  near  the  city,  on  which 
a  lioness  tearing  a  kid  in  pieces  symbolized  the  rapacity 
of  the  deceased  hetasra. 

Lais  the  Younger  was  a  contemporary  of  the  orator 
Demosthenes  and  the  painter  Apelles,  and  flourished 
nearly  a  century  after  her  more  celebrated  namesake. 
She  too  lived  at  Corinth,  and  was  famous  for  her  beauty 
and  her  association  with  distinguished  men.  She  was 
born  out  of  wedlock,  and  the  names  of  both  her  father 
and  mother  are  unknown.  As  she  grew  up,  a  waif  in  the 
dissolute  city,  Apelles,  the  celebrated  painter,  is  said  to 
have  been  the  first  to  have  noticed  her  budding  beauty 
and  to  have  educated  her.  According  to  the  prevailing 
tradition,  Apelles  saw  her  when,  as  a  young  girl,  she  was 
drawing  water  from  the  fountain  Pirene,  and  was  at  once 
so  captivated  by  her  beauty  that  he  took  her  with  him  to 
a  banquet  whither  he  was  going.  When  his  friends  jest- 
ingly reproached  him  because,  instead  of  bringing  a  hetasra, 
as  was  usual,  he  had  brought  a  child  to  the  feast,  he 
rejoined:  "  Be  not  surprised.  I  will  show  her  again  to 
you  before  three  years  have  passed;  you  can  then  see 
how  beautiful  and  vivacious  she  has  become." 

Before  this  period  had  passed,  Lais  became  the  most 
celebrated  hetsera  of  the  city.  Her  name  was  on  every- 
one's lips,  in  the  baths,  in  the  theatres,  and  on  the 
streets  and  public  squares.  Her  fame  spread  throughout 
Hellas,  and  the  richest  men  of  Hellas  flocked  to  Corinth. 


232  WOMAN 

She  was  surpassed  in  the  number  and  prominence  of  her 
lovers  only  by  her  contemporary,  Phryne  of  Athens. 

When  at  the  height  of  her  triumph,  this  celebrated  and 
petted  hetaera,  "who  inflamed  all  Hellas  with  love,  and  for 
whose  favors  two  seas  contended,"  suddenly  disappeared 
from  the  scene  of  her  conquests.  A  Thessalian,  by  name 
Hippolochus,  had  taught  her  the  meaning  of  true  love. 
She  fled  with  him  from  the  company  of  her  other  lovers, 
and  lived  in  honorable  marriage  in  Thessaly.  Her  beauty, 
however,  caused  a  sad  ending  to  this  pleasing  romance. 
From  envy  and  jealousy,  the  Thessalian  women  enticed 
her  into  the  temple  of  Aphrodite  and  there  stoned  her  to 
death.  Some  historians  relate  that  she  had  many  Thessa- 
lian lovers;  this  aroused  the  jealousy  of  the  women,  and 
they  took  her  life  at  a  festival  of  Aphrodite  at  which  no 
men  were  present.  After  her  murder,  a  pestilence  is 
said  to  have  broken  out  in  Thessaly,  which  did  not  end 
until  in  expiation  a  temple  had  been  erected  to  Aphrodite. 

Phryne  was  the  most  beautiful  woman  of  all  antiquity. 
She  was  born  at  Thespiae  in  Boeotia,  but  flourished  at 
Athens  toward  the  latter  part  of  the  fourth  century  before 
our  era.  The  name  Phryne  belongs  essentially  to  the 
history  of  Greek  art,  for  all  her  life  was  associated  with 
the  activities  of  the  most  eminent  painters  and  sculptors. 
In  her  youth  she  was  loved  by  the  sculptor  Praxiteles. 
Pausanias  tells  a  story  how  "once  when  Phryne  asked 
for  the  most  beautiful  of  his  works,  Praxiteles,  lover-like, 
promised  to  give  it  to  her,  but  would  not  tell  which  he 
thought  the  most  beautiful.  So  a  servant  of  Phryne  ran 
in,  declaring  that  the  sculptor's  studio  had  caught  fire, 
and  that  most,  but  not  all,  of  his  works  had  perished. 
Praxiteles  at  once  ran  for  the  door,  protesting  that  all  his 
labor  was  lost  if  the  flames  had  reached  the  Satyr  and  the 
Love.  But  Phryne  bade  him  stay  and  be  of  good  cheer, 


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APHRODITE    PANDEMUS  233 

telling  him  that  he  had  suffered  no  loss,  but  had  only 
been  entrapped  into  saying  which  were  the  most  beautiful 
of  his  works.  So  she  chose  the  Love." 

Either  this  or  a  similar  statue  of  Eros  was  dedicated 
by  Phryne  in  Thespise,  the  city  of  her  birth.  Later, 
Praxiteles  made  of  her  a  statue  of  gold,  which  was  set  up 
at  Delphi  between  those  of  two  kings.  She  also  served 
as  his  model  for  the  celebrated  Aphrodite  of  Cnidos,  which 
Pliny  describes  as  "  the  finest  statue,  not  only  by  Praxit- 
eles, but  in  the  whole  world."  The  inhabitants  of  Cnidos 
placed  the  image,  which  they  believed  had  been  made 
under  the  direct  inspiration  of  the  goddess  of  love  her- 
self, in  a  beautiful  shrine  surrounded  by  myrtle  trees,  so 
arranged  that  the  figure  might  be  seen  from  many  different 
points  of  view;  "and  from  all  sides,"  adds  Pliny,  "it  was 
equally  admired."  Hither  came  Greeks  from  all  parts  of 
the  world  merely  to  behold  the  statue  and  to  worship  at  the 
shrine  of  the  goddess.  King  Nicomedes  of  Bithynia,  in 
his  eagerness  to  possess  the  statue,  offered  to  pay  for  it 
the  whole  public  debt  of  the  island,  which  was  enormous; 
but  the  Cnidians  preferred  to  suffer  anything  rather  than 
give  up  their  treasure;  and  with  good  reason,  "for  by 
that  statue  Praxiteles  made  Cnidos  famous."  Writers 
of  epigrams  were  fond  of  extolling  the  statue;  and  many  of 
the  extant  statues  of  Venus  are  but  replicas  or  adaptations 
of  this  great  prototype,  modelled  after  the  form  of  Phryne. 
The  most  celebrated  copy  of  the  Cnidian  statue  is  in  the 
Vatican,  disfigured,  however,  by  false  drapery.  The  statue 
gives  us  some  idea  of  the  superlative  beauty  of  Phryne. 
It  is  very  pure,  very  unconscious  of  its  charms,  and  capti- 
vates the  beholder  by  its  simple  grace  and  naturalness. 
Lucian,  the  aesthetic  critic,  in  the  construction  of  his  ideal 
statue  selected  for  description  the  head  of  the  Aphrodite 
of  Cnidos.  He  particularly  admired  the  finely  pencilled 


234  WOMAN 

eyebrows  and  the  melting  gaze  of  the  eyes,  with  their 
sweet,  joyous  expression. 

Phryne,  with  a  modesty  one  would  not  expect  in  a 
woman  of  her  class,  was  very  careful  to  keep  her  beauti- 
ful figure  concealed,  avoiding  the  public  baths  and  having 
her  body  always  enveloped  in  a  long  and  graceful  tunic. 
But  on  two  occasions  the  beauty-loving  Greeks  had  dis- 
played to  them  the  charms  of  her  person.  The  first  was 
at  the  solemn  assembly  at  Eleusis,  on  the  feast  of  the 
Poseidonia.  Having  loosened  her  beautiful  hair  and  let  fall 
her  drapery,  Phryne  plunged  into  the  sea  in  the  sight  of  all 
the  assembled  Greeks.  Apelles,  the  painter,  transported 
with  admiration  at  the  sight,  retired  at  once  to  his  studio  and 
transferred  to  canvas  the  mental  image  which  was  indelibly 
impressed  upon  his  fancy;  and  the  resulting  picture  was  the 
Aphrodite  Anadyomene,  the  most  celebrated  of  his  paintings. 

The  second  exhibition  was  before  the  austere  court  of 
the  Heliasts.  Phryne  had  been  cited  to  appear  before  the 
tribunal  on  the  charge  of  profaning  the  Eleusinian  mys- 
teries, and  Hyperides,  the  brilliant  young  orator,  was  her 
advocate.  Failing  to  move  the  judges  by  his  arguments, 
he  tore  the  tunic  from  her  bosom  and  revealed  to  them  the 
perfection  of  her  figure.  The  judges,  beholding  as  it  were 
the  goddess  of  love  incarnate,  and  moved  by  a  superstitious 
fear,  could  not  dare  to  condemn  to  death  "a  prophetess  and 
priestess  of  Aphrodite."  They  saw  and  they  pardoned, 
and,  amid  the  applause  of  the  people,  Phryne  was  carried 
in  triumph  to  the  temple  of  Aphrodite.  To  us  in  this  day 
such  a  scene  appears  highly  theatrical,  but  Aphrodite  is 
no  longer  esteemed  among  men,  and  the  Greek  worship  of 
beauty  is  something  not  understood  in  this  material  age. 

Phryne's  life  was  by  no  means  free  from  blame,  and 
as  the  result  of  her  popularity  she  acquired  great  riches. 
She  is  said  to  have  offered  to  rebuild  the  walls  of  Thebes, 


APHRODITE    PANDEMUS  235 

which  had  been  torn  down  by  Alexander,  on  condition 
that  she  might  place  on  them  the  inscription:  Alexander 
destroyed  Thebes;  but  Phryne,  the  hetoera,  rebuilt  it;  but  the 
offer  was  rejected,  showing  that  though  the  times  were 
corrupt,  yet  shame  had  not  altogether  departed  from  men. 

One  cannot  emphasize  in  too  trenchant  terms  the  de- 
moralizing influences  of  hetairism  on  the  social  life  of  the 
Greeks,  or  fail  to  see  in  the  gross  immorality  of  the  sexes 
one  of  the  paramount  causes  of  the  downfall  of  the  Greek 
peoples. 

Yet  it  is  a  truism  that  feminine  shamelessness  was  most 
advantageous  for  the  arts  of  sculpture  and  painting. 
Sensuousness  is  close  akin  to  sensuality,  and  from  their 
passion  for  these  "priestesses  of  Aphrodite"  the  Greek 
artists,  without  doubt,  derived  much  of  their  inspiration, 
while  the  opportunities  which  hetairism  offered  for  the 
study  of  the  female  form  enabled  Praxiteles  and  his  con- 
temporaries and  successors  to  produce  masterpieces  which 
equalled  in  idealism  the  works  of  aesthetic  art  produced  in 
the  preceding  century. 

To  become  the  ideal  for  the  painter  and  the  sculptor 
was  the  greatest  ambition  of  the  beautiful  and  cultivated 
hetasra.  In  permitting  the  artist  to  portray  her  charms 
she  not  only  performed  a  lasting  service  for  art,  but  she 
also  rendered  herself  celebrated  and  immortal.  The  fame 
of  her  beauty  was  spread  throughout  all  Hellenic  lands, 
and  the  national  devotion  to  the  goddess  Aphrodite  was  at 
once  extended  to  her  earthly  counterpart.  If  she  united 
intellectual  brilliancy  with  beauty,  fortune  at  once  cast  its 
most  precious  gifts  at  her  feet.  The  most  celebrated  men 
of  every  city  contested  for  her  favors,  poets  made  her  the 
theme  of  their  verses,  artists  portrayed  her  charms  with 
chisel  and  with  brush,  and  the  wealthy  filled  her  coffers 
with  gold  and  precious  stones. 


SKBoman  ©uestton  in 
Ancient 


XI 

THE  WOMAN  QUESTION  IN  ANCIENT  ATHENS 

ANYONE  who  makes  a  careful  perusal  of  the  philosoph- 
ical literature  of  Athens  in  the  fourth  century  before  our 
era  will  be  struck  with  the  amount  of  attention  that  has 
been  paid  to  the  question  of  the  social  and  domestic  posi- 
tion of  woman.  If  he  trace  the  subject  back,  he  will  ob- 
serve that  in  the  dramatic  literature  of  the  latter  part  of 
the  previous  century  the  same  problems  received  the  con- 
sideration of  Euripides  and  Aristophanes.  And  the  convic- 
tion will  be  forced  upon  him  that  this  agitation  was  rooted 
in  a  sociological  movement  of  great  import,  and  that  the 
dramatic  and  philosophical  writers  merely  gave  a  literary 
form  to  the  debates  which  profoundly  stirred  Athenian 
society  in  the  fifth  century. 

This  discussion  of  woman's  rights  is  a  subject  of  peren- 
nial interest,  and  the  underlying  currents  in  such  move- 
ments are  usually  the  same  in  every  age.  They  take 
their  rise,  too,  not  in  the  efforts  of  philanthropic  men 
who  recognize  that  the  status  of  woman  is  not  what  it 
should  be,  but  in  the  efforts  of  the  members  of  the  sex 
themselves,  who  are  sufficiently  intelligent  to  see  that 
they,  while  having  an  abundant  share  of  the  burdens, 
have  not  a  fair  share  of  the  emoluments  of  life,  and  con- 
sequently endeavor  to  better  the  conditions  which  environ 
themselves  and  their  sisters. 

239 


240  WOMAN 

In  this  chapter  we  shall  make  a  study  of  the  dramatists 
and  philosophers  of  Athens,  in  so  far  as  they  give  insight 
into  the  social  life  of  the  city  in  its  most  important  epoch, 
and  outline  what  they  contribute  to  our  knowledge  of 
Greek  woman  and  the  ever-present  Woman  Question. 

For  the  early  part  of  this  brilliant  period  we  must  rely 
on  the  ideal  pictures  of  tragedy  for  the  higher  side,  and 
the  ribald  travesties  of  comedy  for  the  lower  side  of  femi- 
nine life.  jEschylus  flourished  just  before  and  during  the 
glorious  period  following  the  Persian  War, — the  good  days 
before  the  influx  of  foreigners  and  the  new  education  cor- 
rupted the  life  and  undermined  the  faith  of  the  citizens. 
In  his  seven  extant  plays  he  has  presented  to  us  only 
three  feminine  characters  of  any  importance, — Clytem- 
nestra,  Electra,  and  Cassandra, — all  belonging  to  the  cycle 
of  tragedies  treating  of  the  fate  of  King  Agamemnon  and 
his  royal  house  at  Mycenae.  The  dramatist's  pictures  of 
home  life  show  his  high  conception  of  the  ability  and  the 
importance  of  women  and  of  the  large  part  they  play  in 
human  history.  His  Clytemnestra  is  a  ruling  queen  exer- 
cising all  the  functions  of  royalty,  but  her  powerful  nature 
has  been  debased  by  grief  and  sin.  She  identifies  herself 
with  the  "  ancient  bitter  Alastor,"  who  visits  on  Agamem- 
non the  curse  of  his  house.  She  is  self-sufficingness,  ada- 
mantine purpose,  studied  craft,  and  cold  disdain  incarnate. 
With  fulsome  speech  and  consummate  flattery  she  wel- 
comes her  husband  home;  and  when  the  deed  is  done  and 
he  lies  dead  by  her  hand,  in  exultant  tones  she  rejoices  in 
the  blood  upon  her  robe  as  "  a  cornfield  in  the  dews  of 
spring."  Truly  she  is  the  most  powerful  portrait  of  femi- 
nine guilt  that  dramatic  literature  affords  us.  >£schylus 
drew  his  scenery  and  his  characters  largely  from  the  con- 
ditions of  the  Heroic  Age  as  pictured  by  Homer,  and  was 
little  affected  by  the  current  of  everyday  life  about  him. 


THE  WOMAN  QUESTION  IN  ANCIENT  ATHENS      241 

As  jEschylus  has  given  us  Clytemnestra  for  an  ideal 
type  of  feminine  power  and  wickedness,  so  Sophocles  has 
presented  two  immortal  heroines,  Antigone  and  Electra, 
who  are  statuesque  in  the  beauty  and  grandeur  of  their 
characters.  In  Antigone  we  observe  two  fundamental 
qualities, — enthusiasm  in  the  performance  of  duty,  and 
intensity  of  domestic  affection,  as  seen  in  her  efforts  to 
reconcile  her  brothers,  Polynices  and  Eteocles,  her  desire 
to  shield  her  sister  Ismene,  her  self -sacrifice  for  the  sake  of 
her  brother  Polynices,  and  her  filial  devotion  to  her  aged 
father.  Electra  also  is  an  ideal  type  of  sisterly  love.  Ill- 
treated  by  her  unnatural  mother,  abused  by  the  cowardly 
and  brutal  tyrant  who  had  usurped  her  father's  place,  only 
one  ray  of  hope  was  left  her,  that  her  brother  Orestes 
would  return  to  avenge  their  wrongs  upon  the  guilty  pair. 
When  the  deed  is  done,  and  Orestes  is  pursued  by  the 
Furies,  she  proves  herself  a  devoted  and  unselfish  sister. 
In  these  two  characters  we  have  sublime  conceptions  of 
heroic  devotion  to  duty,  but  the  more  human  womanly 
traits  have  been  lost  in  the  poet's  delineation  of  them  as 
the  embodiment  of  lofty  ideals. 

Mahaffy  finds  in  these  two  heroines  something  hard 
and  masculine,  traits  which  would  not  stir  the  sympathies 
of  the  reader  or  hearer  and  lead  to  emulation.  He  pre- 
fers Sophocles's  Deianira  and  Tecmessa  as  being  "truly 
'female  women,'  as  Homer  would  say,  gentle  and  loving, 
not  above  jealousy,  and  for  that  reason  a  finer  and  clearer 
contrast  to  the  heroes  than  are  the  coarser  and  more  domi- 
nant heroines."  .  .  .  "If  these  criticisms  be  just," 
he  adds,  "they  will  show  that,  in  the  most  perfect  and 
exclusive  Athenian  society — that  is  to  say,  among  Thucyd- 
ides's  and  Sophocles's  set,  the  ideal  of  female  character 
had  degenerated;  that  to  these  men,  whose  affections 
were  centred  on  very  different  objects,  the  notion  of  a  true 


242  WOMAN 

heroine  was  no  longer  natural,  but  was  supplanted  by  a 
hard  and  masculine  type.  The  old  free,  noble  woman,  > 
whom  >£schylus  had,  in  early  days,  still  known,  was 
banished  from  their  city  life  to  make  way  for  the  domes- 
tic slave  of  the  Attic  household,  called  'mistress,'  but 
as  such  contrasted  with  the  'companions,'  who  gradually 
supplanted  her  in  Athenian  society." 

The  types  of  womanhood  presented  by  ^schylus  and 
Sophocles  belonged  to  a  state  of  society  which  had  passed 
away,  and  were  too  remote  from  the  life  of  their  own  day 
to  be  ideals  for  the  daughters  of  Athens.  These  dramatists 
did  not  touch  upon  the  problems  which  were  then  engaging 
the  thoughts  of  enlightened  men  and  women.  There  is 
nothing  in  ^schylus,  absorbed  as  he  was  in  the  problems 
of  destiny,  to  show  that  he  felt  the  many  weighty  prob- 
lems that  confronted  the  social  life  of  his  time;  and  the 
serene  Sophocles  gives  no  hint  that  the  world  about  him 
was  not  the  best  of  all  possible  worlds.  But  how  was  it 
with  the  sombre  and  melancholy  Euripides?  What  insight 
does  he  give  us  into  the  social  life  of  the  times  ? 

There  was  a  famous  saying  of  Sophocles  that  "  he  him- 
self represented  men  as  they  ought  to  be — Euripides,  men 
as  they  are."  This  means  that  Euripides,  while  making 
the  old  legends  the  foundation  of  his  tragedies,  attributed 
to  his  heroes  and  heroines  the  faults  and  passions  of  ordi- 
nary men  and  women  and  utilized  his  plots  to  present  the 
problems  which  confronted  society  as  he  knew  it.  As  a 
follower  of  Anaxagoras  and  a  member  of  the  party  of  phi- 
losophers, he  was  dissatisfied  with  the  conditions  of  life 
about  him,  and  endeavored,  through  his  dramas,  to  assist 
the  movements  for  reform.  He  was,  in  many  respects, 
a  daring  innovator,  and  this  explains  the  bitter  hostil- 
ity which  Aristophanes,  the  ultra-conservative,  exhibited 
toward  him.  The  glaring  fault  in  Athenian  social  life 


THE  WOMAN  QUESTION  IN  ANCIENT  ATHENS      243 

was  the  status  of  woman,  and  to  the  solution  of  this  prob- 
lem Euripides  bent  all  his  energies.  He  used  woman  and 
the  moral  conflicts  originating  through  the  relations  of  the 
sexes  as  a  motif  for  his  poetry,  and  the  whole  body  of 
his  plays  is  a  commentary  on  the  Woman  Question.  He 
found  in  the  portrayal  of  woman  a  new  field  for  his  genius, 
as  well  as  a  new  means  of  advocating  an  unpopular  but 
righteous  cause. 

Yet  we  are  confronted  by  the  prevailing  opinion  that 
Euripides  was  a  woman  hater  who  utilized  his  tragedies 
to  present  his  unfavorable  opinion  of  the  sex.  This  view, 
presented  by  many  modern  writers,  rests,  however,  on 
false  assumptions.  To  exhibit  the  low  views  of  woman 
held  by  the  men  of  his  day,  the  poet  attributes  to  certain 
of  his  characters  condemnations  of  the  sex  as  a  whole; 
and  these  are  taken  to  be  expressions  of  the  personal 
opinion  of  the  author.  Thus  Hippolytus  engages  in  a 
lengthy  tirade  beginning: 

"  Why  hast  thou  given  a  home  beneath  the  sun, 
Zeus,  unto  woman,  specious  curse  to  man  ?  " 

But  Hippolytus  throughout  is  characterized  as  a  pro- 
nounced misogynist,  and  this  and  similar  passages  found 
their  inspiration  in  the  characters  and  the  situation  and 
produce  a  well-defined  dramatic  effect.  Furthermore, 
while  the  poet's  unfavorable  opinions  of  women  are  fre- 
quently cited  out  of  their  connection,  his  complimentary 
expressions  are  lost  sight  of.  In  contrast  to  the  harsh 
criticisms  of  men  who  vent  their  spleen  against  those 
whom  they  have  injured,  or  of  women  who  find  fault  with 
their  sex  where  the  dramatic  purpose  justifies  the  expres- 
sions used,  there  can  be  cited  passages  in  which  maidenly 
modesty  and  wifely  fidelity  are  commended;  or  one  might 
quote  the  deeply  emotional  words  of  Admetus  or  Theseus 


244  WOMAN 

concerning  the  joys  of  happy  married  life,  or  the  tender 
expressions  which  fathers,  like  Agamemnon,  utter  in  refer- 
ence to  their  daughters.  In  the  fragments  also  occur  pas- 
sages friendly  and  unfriendly  to  woman,  but,  as  these  are 
without  their  context,  it  is  difficult  to  judge  them  fairly. 
Hence  the  conclusion  from  a  study  of  the  dialogues  of 
Euripides  is  that  every  unfavorable  judgment  of  woman 
finds  its  full  justification  in  the  economy  of  the  drama; 
nowhere  is  there  convincing  indication  that  the  poet  him- 
self had  any  hatred  for  the  sex. 

If  we  turn  from  the  dialogues  to  the  choruses,  we  may 
expect  to  find  the  author's  true  opinions,  and  here  occur 
no  traces  whatever  of  unfriendly  criticism.  Male  choruses 
sing  of  the  unbounded  happiness  which  is  gained  in  the 
possession  of  a  good  wife;  female  choruses  sing  of  entran- 
cing love,  of  the  blessings  of  a  happy  married  life,  while 
faithlessness  and  sinful  passion  are  condemned.  They 
refer  at  times  to  evil  report  concerning  women,  but  always 
with  indignation  and  in  manifest  effort  to  correct  a  wrong 
judgment.  Thus,  for  example,  the  chorus  of  the  Ion: 

"  Mark— ye  whose  strains  of  slander 

Scourge  evermore 
Woman  in  song,  and  brand  her 

Wanton  and  whore, — 
How  high  in  virtue's  place 
We  pass  men's  lawless  race, 

Nor  spit  in  viper-lays  your  venom-store. 
But  let  the  Muse  of  taunting 

On  men's  heads  pour 
Her  indignation,  chanting 

Her  treason-lore ; 
Sing  of  the  outraged  maid ; 
Tell  of  the  wife  betrayed 

Of  him  who  hath  displayed  his  false  heart's  core—" 

The  nature  of  the  characters  of  Euripides  is  the  most 
important  of  all  the  testimony  of  the  plays  as  evidence  of 


THE  WOMAN  QUESTION  IN  ANCIENT  ATHENS      245 

the  social  life  of  Athens,  since  the  poet  drew  them  from 
real  life,  and  consequently  his  men  and  his  women  are 
necessarily  fair  specimens  of  the  men  and  women  to  be 
found  in  Athenian  society.  It  is  noticeable  that  the  men 
are,  as  a  rule,  far  inferior  to  the  women,  both  in  manners 
and  in  nobility  of  character,  and  are  not  to  be  compared 
with  the  heroes  of  yEschylus  and  Sophocles.  Hippolytus 
is  indeed  a  notable  example  of  youthful  purity;  Pylades, 
of  unselfish  friendship;  Achilles,  of  courtly  chivalry;  Ion,  of 
youthful  piety;  Theseus,  of  devoted  patriotism;  and  the 
peasant  husband  of  Electra,  of  knightly  regard;  but  the 
majority  of  the  male  characters  are  selfish,  quarrelsome, 
and  ordinary.  How  different  do  we  find  the  case  when 
we  consider  the  dramatist's  women! 

Differing  from  his  countrymen  in  the  conception  of  the 
character,  capabilities,  and  rights  of  woman,  Euripides  has 
in  his  plays  presented  ideals  of  a  womanhood  which  would 
give  woman  something  higher  to  live  for  than  the  drudgery 
of  household  duties,  and  would  raise  the  sex  in  the  esti- 
mation of  men.  Heroism  in  everyday  life  is  the  lesson 
he  constantly  teaches  by  the  examples  of  such  women  as 
Alcestis,  the  devoted  wife  and  mother;  as  Polyxena,  the 
brave  martyr-maiden;  as  Andromache,  faithful  in  thraldom 
to  the  memory  of  her  valiant  husband;  as  Macaria  and 
Iphigenia,  sacrificing  themselves  for  the  sake  of  a  great 
cause;  and  as  Electra,  the  devoted  sister.  Nowhere  can 
one  find  a  longer  catalogue  of  noble  women,  not  heroines 
of  prehistoric  days  living  in  a  golden  age,  but  women 
who  in  character  and  sentiments  were  like  to  those  met 
with  every  day  in  every  community.  Euripides's  heart 
was  burdened  by  the  sorrows  and  wrongs  of  the  sex;  and 
he  combated  the  social  system  which  was  at  the  root  of 
the  evil,  not  by  violent  assaults  upon  it,  not  by  seeking 
to  overturn  that  which  was  the  product  of  centuries  and 


246  ;    WOMAN 

was  a  natural  result  of  the  Greek  idea  of  the  city-state, 
but  by  showing  women  how  they  could  better  their  con- 
dition and  by  giving  men  more  exalted  ideas  of  the  nature 
of  woman.  Says  Mr.  Arthur  S.  Way,  the  translator  and 
ardent  advocate  of  Euripides,  who,  of  all  Greek  scholars, 
has  most  profoundly  and  sympathetically  investigated  this 
question: 

"  Euripides  set  himself  to  appeal  to  human  hearts  as  he 
found  them,  to  exalt  men's  estimate  of  woman,  to  redeem 
women  from  despair  of  themselves,  by  uplifting  before 
them  inspiring  ideals  of  womanhood  which  might  be  types 
and  examples  for  all  time.  And,  first,  he  gave  them  those 
transcendent  four — who  in  the  union  of  the  sweetness 
and  lovable  gentleness  of  the  pure  womanly  with  the 
magnificent  exaltation  of  the  highest  heroism  are  unap- 
proached  by  Homer's  Penelope  and  Andromache,  or  by 
Sophocles's  Antigone.  He  gave  them  Alcestis,  who  sur- 
rendered her  life  freely,  not  so  much  for  her  husband  as 
for  wifely  duty's  sake,  and  never  flinched  nor  faltered 
as  the  horror  of  great  darkness  swallowed  her  up,  but  by 
strength  of  a  mother's  love  stayed  up  the  feet  that  were 
sinking  into  Hades,  till  her  dying  breath  had  made  her 
children's  future  sure,  and  then  in  death's  grasp  quietly 
laid  her  hand,  and  so  was  drawn  down,  faintly  and  ever 
more  faintly  murmuring  love.  He  gave  them  Iphigenia, 
who,  summoned  from  the  cloistered  shelter  of  her  home 
as  to  a  bridal,  found  herself  set  without  warning  before 
the  altar  of  death,  and  yet  shrank  and  shuddered  only 
till  the  full  import  of  the  great  sacrifice  demanded  dawned 
upon  her,  and  then  sprang  full-statured  to  the  height  of  a 
godlike  resolve;  who  grasped  in  her  pure  hands  the  scales 
of  national  justice,  who  bore  up  with  her  slender  wrists 
the  fate  of  her  fatherland,  and  sang  the  triumph  paean  of 
Hellas  as  she  paced  to  death.  He  gave  them  Macaria, 


THE  WOMAN  QUESTION  IN  ANCIENT  ATHENS      247 

who  attained  a  height  of  selfless  heroism  unimagined  till 
that  hour,  in  that  unasked  she  gave  her  life  for  the  salva- 
tion of  a  noble  house  and  of  alien  helpers;  who  refused 
to  hearken  to  the  suggestion  which  whispered  a  hope  of 
escape,  but  with  unreverted  eyes  turned  from  all  joys  and 
all  hopes  of  young  life,  and  spent  her  last  breath  in  conso- 
lation and  encouragement  to  those  who  clung  with  adoring 
love  and  passionate  tears  about  her  parting  feet.  He  gave 
them  Polyxena,  the  most  pathetic  figure  of  all,  sustained 
by  no  proud  consciousness  of  salvation  wrought  from  suf- 
fering, but  only  welcoming  death  as  an  angel  of  deliverance 
from  shame  and  long  regrets,  who  stood  on  the  grave- 
mound,  arrayed  in  spotless  innocence,  with  modest  lips 
that  calmly  made  in  the  name  of  honor  their  last  request, 
and  so  gave  her  throat  to  the  sword,  while  the  fierce  men 
who  but  now  had  clamored  for  her  blood  acclaimed  her  of 
all  maidens  noblest  of  soul. 

"He  brought  before  them  women  in  all  the  relations  of 
life,  everywhere  surpassing  the  men  in  goodness,  in  con- 
stancy, in  wisdom,  in  counsel.  They  watched  the  minis- 
tering angel  who  sat  by  a  brother's  bed,  and  wiped  the 
dew  of  agony  from  his  brow  and  the  foam  of  madness  from 
his  lips;  they  held  their  breath  while  a  gentle-hearted 
priestess  bemoaned  to  her  unknown  brother  the  cruel 
destiny  which  even  then  drew  her  to  the  verge  of  fratri- 
cide. They  saw  the  wife  who  hailed  a  death  of  fire  to 
be  reunited  to  her  slain  lord,  and  the  wife  who  devoted 
herself  to  save,  or  die  with,  her  husband.  They  heard 
one  mother  plead  the  cause  of  honor  and  right  against  cold 
statecraft;  they  listened  as  another  besought  her  doomed 
sons  to  be  reconciled.  They  thrilled  beholding  the 
princess-slave  whose  love  was  stronger  than  death  and 
whose  highborn  spirit  flashed  defiance  to  a  treacherous 
foe;  and  that  other,  who,  remembering  her  hero-husband, 


248  WOMAN 

would  not  suffer  the  imminent  death  to  make  herself  or 
her  children  play  a  craven  part,  but  mingled  proud  scorn 
of  the  murderous  usurper  with  regrets  for  hopes  foregone. 
In  the  noble  words  of  Professor  Mahaffy:  '  These  are  the 
women  who  have  so  raised  the  ideal  of  the  sex,  that  in 
looking  upon  them  the  world  has  passed  from  neglect  to 
courtesy,  from  courtesy  to  veneration;  these  are  they, 
who,  across  many  centuries,  first  of  frivolity  and  sensual- 
ity, then  of  rudeness  and  barbarism,  join  hands  with  the 
ideals  of  our  religion  and  our  chivalry,  the  martyred  saints, 
the  chaste  and  holy  virgins  of  romance — nay,  more,  with 
the  true  wives,  the  devoted  mothers,  of  our  own  day.' 

"  But  there  are  female  characters  in  his  plays  which 
have  been  pointed  to  as  proving  a  very  different  attitude 
toward  women.  Of  these,  Phaedra  was  the  best-abused 
by  his  enemies,  who  wilfully  shut  their  eyes  to  her  true 
character.  She  is,  by  the  very  plot  of  the  play,  the  help- 
less victim  of  the  malice  of  a  goddess.  With  her  brain 
beclouded  by  fever  frenzy,  she  agonizes  for  clear  vision 
and  wails  for  peace  of  mind.  She  is  a  pure-souled,  true- 
hearted  woman,  who  tingles  with  shame  and  shudders  with 
horror  at  the  hideous  thing  that  has  been  born  in  her. 
She  is  driven  by  the  imminence  of  ruin  to  a  desperate  ex- 
pedient to  shield  her  name  from  the  unmerited  dishonor 
which  she  might  well  believe,  from  the  ambiguously 
worded  threat  with  which  Hippolytus  departed,  was  to  be 
cast  upon  her.  He  gave  her  cause  to  think  that  he  would 
accuse  her  to  his  father  of  a  crime  of  which  she  knew 
herself  innocent.  In  her  despair,  she  saw  no  help  but  to 
forestall  him  by  an  accusation  equally  false. 

"Medea  and  Creusa — even  Clytemnestra  and  Hermi- 
one — are  not  portrayed  as  transgressors  without  excuse: 
in  each  case,  the  audience  heard  the  woman  plead  her 
cause  and  proclaim  the  doctrine  that  woman  has  rights  as 


THE  WOMAN  QUESTION   IN  ANCIENT  ATHENS      249 

well  as  man,  that  what  man  avenges  as  the  inexpiable 
wrong  is  not  a  light  offence  against  her.  It  may  well  be 
that  they  were  not  ripe  for  the  reception  of  ideas  so 
unheard-of,  that  many  of  them  mistook  his  drift;  but  the 
seed  sank  in,  to  bear  fruit  in  due  time. 

"In  each  instance  the  sinner  is  a  woman  deeply  wronged, 
or  in  sore  straits,  or  under  demoniac  influence:  there  are 
no  such  gratuitously  wicked  characters  as  Goneril,  Lady 
Macbeth,  or  Tamora.  Yet  no  one  calls  Shakespeare  a 
misogynist.  Why,  then,  was  it  possible  for  Euripides's 
enemies  to  charge  him  with  being  one,  a  charge  doubtless 
echoed  by  a  good  many  thoughtless  and  stupid  people  in 
his  day,  but  little  creditable  to  modern  scholarship?  For 
three  reasons:  first,  the  wilful  or  obtuse  misunderstanding 
of  such  characters  as  Phsedra — the  representation  of  these 
by  Euripides  was  the  main  ground  on  which  Aristophanes 
alleged  that  the  tendency  of  his  plays  was  immoral. 
Secondly,  we  occasionally  come  upon  the  censures  of  the 
faults  and  foibles  of  women — their  proneness  to  scandal, 
to  uncharitable  judgments  of  their  fellows,  their  pettiness, 
frivolity,  and  so  forth.  It  must  be  admitted,  too,  that  the 
context  sometimes  justifies  us  in  concluding  that  the  poet 
is  uttering  his  own  sentiments.  It  was,  indeed,  to  be 
expected  that  a  thinker  who  had  so  high  a  conception  of 
what  women  might  be  should  be  painfully  impressed  by 
the  contrast  presented  by  what  they  too  often  were.  Nor 
is  it  matter  for  wonder  that  he  should  take  opportunities 
of  bringing  the  same  feeling  home  to  them.  It  is  not 
enough  to  set  noble  ideals  before  people  who  are  not  yet 
conscious  of  the  incompatibility  of  their  present  habits 
and  aims  with  the  emulation  of  those  ideals.  Faithful  are 
the  wounds  of  a  friend,  as  indeed  these  were,  compared 
with  the  hideous  presentments  of  female  morality  in  which 
Aristophanes  revels,  till  his  readers  might  imagine  that 


2$0  WOMAN 

pure  and  temperate  women  were  quite  the  exception  in 
the  Athens  of  his  day.  And  was  he  not  a  friend  to  women 
who  gave,  for  the  sake  of  his  sisters  for  whom  heroic 
ideals  might  seem  set  too  high,  this  winsome  model,  '  not 
too  fair  and  good  for  human  nature's  daily  food '? 

"  '  Beauty  wins  not  love  for  woman  from  the  yokemate  of  her  life : 
Many  an  one  by  goodness  wins  it ;  for  to  each  true-hearted  wife, 
Knit  in  love  unto  her  husband,  is  Discretion's  secret  told. 
These  her  gifts  are :  though  her  lord  be  all  uncomely  to  behold, 
To  her  heart  and  eyes  shall  he  be  comely,  so  her  wit  be  sound ; 
('Tis  not  eyes  that  judge  the  man;  within  is  true  discernment  found): 
Whensoe'er  he  speaks,  or  holds  his  peace,  shall  she  his  sense  commend, 
Prompt  with  sweet  suggestion  when  with  speech  he  fain  would  please  a 

friend : 

Glad  she  is,  if  aught  untoward  hap,  to  show  she  feels  his  care : 
Joy  and  sorrow  of  the  husband  aye  the  loyal  wife  will  share : 
Yea,  if  thou  art  sick,  in  spirit  will  thy  wife  be  sick  with  thee, 
Bear  the  half  of  all  thy  burdens — naught  unsweet  accounteth  she : 
For  with  those  we  love  our  duty  bids  us  taste  the  cup  of  bliss 
Not  alone,  the  cup  of  sorrow  also — what  is  love  but  this? ' " 

The  ill-deserved  reputation  of  being  a  misogynist  which 
attaches  to  Euripides  is  due,  not  to  his  own  plays,  but  to 
the  satire  and  drollery  of  his  rival,  the  comedian  Aris- 
tophanes, who,  in  B.C.  411  or  410,  produced  the  Thesmo- 
phoria^usce,  a  play  so  cleverly  constructed  that,  while  it 
seemed  to  defend  the  female  sex  against  the  charges  of 
Euripides,  really  presented  them  in  a  more  disgusting 
light.  Aristophanes  represents  the  world  of  women  as 
thrown  into  consternation  and  revolt  through  the  produc- 
tion of  the  tragedies  of  Euripides,  such  as  the  Hippolytus, 
wherein  the  female  sex  is  so  severely  arraigned.  Unable  to 
endure  his  accusations,  an  assembly  of  women  is  called 
at  the  Thesmophoria  to  plan  the  destruction  of  their  arch 
enemy.  Euripides,  however,  hears  of  the  assembly,  and 
prevails  on  his  father-in-law,  Mnesilochus,  to  disguise  him- 
self as  a  woman  and  seek  admittance,  that  he  may  plead 


THE  WOMAN  QUESTION  IN  ANCIENT  ATHENS      251 

the  cause  of  the  tragedian.  The  humor  of  the  debate  lies 
in  the  fact  that,  after  several  women  have  roundly  abused 
Euripides  for  slandering  their  sex,  Mnesilochus,  attired  in 
rustic  female  garb,  eloquently  reminds  them  of  the  truths 
which  Euripides  might  have  divulged  had  he  chosen  to  do 
so.  One  sin  after  another  is  glibly  and  facetiously  piled 
up  against  the  feminine  record,  until  the  few  calumnies 
attributed  to  Euripides  seem  insignificant  beside  the  moun- 
tain of  crimes  and  foibles  the  supposed  matron  heaps  up 
against  her  sisters.  The  picture  which  Aristophanes,  in 
his  clever  bit  of  satire,  presents  of  the  women  of  his  day 
is  an  exceedingly  repulsive  one.  They  are  represented 
as  profligate,  licentious,  stupid,  fond  of  drink,  thieves  and 
liars.  No  other  Greek  writer  has  given  them  so  base  a 
character.  But  we  must  remember  that  we  are  reading 
comedy.  "  The  point  of  the  Thesmophoria%usce,  so  far  as 
the  women  are  concerned,  is  that,  while  Aristophanes  pre- 
tends to  pillory  Euripides  for  his  abuse  of  them,  his  own 
satire  is  far  more  searching  and  penetrates  more  deeply 
into  the  secrets  of  domestic  life." 

The  grotesque  distortion  by  Aristophanes  of  the  char- 
acter of  the  philosopher  Socrates  is  sufficiently  well 
known;  the  contrast  between  the  sentiments  which  he 
attributes  to  Euripides  and  the  tragic  poet's  own  views  as 
presented  in  his  plays  is  very  striking;  hence  the  pictures 
that  he  draws  of  the  life  and  manners  of  women  must  not 
be  accepted  without  important  allowances.  Aristophanes 
was  writing  to  make  people  laugh,  not  to  reveal  the  secrets 
of  the  household,  and  his  plays  were  exclusively  for  an 
audience  of  men.  Hence  coarseness  and  buffoonery,  as 
elements  of  comic  effect,  are  continually  availed  of,  and 
Aristophanes  considered  that  he  was  witty  in  maligning 
the  female  sex.  It  would  clearly  be  unfair  and  even  ab- 
surd to  regard  Aristophanes  as  an  accurate  expositor  of 


252  WOMAN 

feminine  life  in  Athens.  But  it  is  a  noticeable  fact  that, 
from  B.  C.  41 1  onward,  there  is,  as  seen  in  the  extant  plays 
of  Aristophanes,  a  marked  prominence  given  to  the  female 
sex.  Women,  who  heretofore  have  played  but  a  subordi- 
nate role  in  comedy,  now  frequently  have  the  principal 
parts.  Comedy,  more  truly  than  any  other  department  of 
literature,  reflects  the  current  thought;  and  while  the  char- 
acters of  comedy  play  a  r61e  that  is  the  reverse  of  actuality, 
comic  invention  deals  with  real  movements,  and  this  inten- 
tional prominence  of  the  usually  neglected  sex  can  have 
but  one  interpretation:  the  Woman  Question  had  become 
a  problem  which  profoundly  engaged  the  attention  of  the 
society  of  the  time. 

It  is  a  difficult  task  to  attempt  to  trace  in  the  comedies 
of  Aristophanes  the  thread  of  a  social  movement.  He  util- 
ized the  events  and  opinions  of  the  day  for  fun  making, 
and  did  not  greatly  concern  himself  with  the  serious 
aspects  of  social  problems.  He  was  an  ultra-conservative, 
and  desired  to  bring  the  new  thought  of  the  day  into  dis- 
repute by  exhibiting  its  ludicrous  side.  Hence  he  makes 
use  of  the  woman's  rights  movement  to  give  free  rein 
to  his  fancy,  and  to  delight  the  public  with  obscene  jokes 
on  the  vices  and  weaknesses  of  women  and  with  clever 
caricatures  of  their  leaders.  Yet  the  attentive  reader 
can  get  glimpses  here  and  there  into  the  more  serious 
aspects  of  the  question,  and  can  recognize  behind  some 
of  the  distorted,  caricatured  figures  types  which  are  not 
in  themselves  comic. 

The  other  two  plays  of  Aristophanes  in  which  women 
figure  prominently  are  the  Lysistrata  and  the  Ecclesia^usce. 
In  each  of  these  the  company  of  women  is  directed  by  a 
leader  who  in  talents  and  aggressiveness  is  far  superior  to 
her  fellows.  These  two  have  not  the  many  small  weak- 
nesses of  the  other  dames;  they  have  the  collective  interest 


THE  WOMAN  QUESTION   IN  ANCIENT  ATHENS      253 

of  their  sex  at  heart;  and  they  know  how  to  form  a  plan 
and  how  to  carry  it  through.  The  other  women,  in  spite  of 
their  thoughtlessness  and  weakness  of  character,  are  domi- 
nated by  the  strong  personalities  of  their  self-appointed 
leaders.  Hence,  by  a  study  of  the  controlling  spirit  of 
each  play,  in  spite  of  the  caricature  in  the  poet's  delinea- 
tion, we  may  be  able  to  form  some  conception  of  the 
currents  of  thought  of  the  day  as  they  affected  women. 

Lysistrata  is  the  wife  of  an  Athenian  magistrate,  and 
has  been  strongly  affected  by  the  ill  success  of  the  Pek>- 
ponnesian  War.  She  has  meditated  long  over  the  expe- 
riences of  the  female  sex  in  general  during  the  last  decade 
of  the  war.  During  the  first  ten  years,  the  Grecian  women 
had  borne  in  silence  and  without  forming  any  opinions,  in 
the  narrow  confines  of  the  home,  the  mistakes  of  their 
husbands;  but  gradually  they  had  observed  how  politics, 
in  the  hands  of  the  men,  was  going  from  bad  to  worse, 
and  how  want  was  increasing  year  by  year.  They  began 
to  ask  questions,  to  find  fault  in  a  mild  way,  though  only 
with  the  result  that  the  men  sent  them  back  to  their 
domestic  duties  with  the  brusque  answer:  "War  shall  be 
a  care  to  men."  That  which  finally  roused  the  women 
to  action  was  the  realization  that  the  men,  in  the  face  of 
events,  had  unanimously  recognized  their  own  helpless- 
ness. Lysistrata  therefore,  in  Aristophanes's  play,  coun- 
sels the  women  to  break  their  chains,  seize  the  reins 
of  government,  and  bring  the  dreadful  war  to  an  end. 
She  tells  the  assembled  women  that  they  have  carried  a 
double  burden  in  the  war.  As  mothers,  they  have  borne 
sons  whom  they  have  been  compelled  to  send  forth  to 
death;  while  as  wives,  they  have  been  deprived  of  their 
husbands;  even  the  maidens  have  grown  old  in  single 
blessedness,  on  account  of  the  absence  of  men  available 
as  husbands.  With  such  words  as  these  she  arouses  the 


254  WOMAN 

spirit  of  her  comrades.  They,  in  turn,  speak  of  their 
virtues,  their  natural  gifts,  and  their  love  for  their  native 
country,  to  which  they  are  so  much  indebted,  and  in  duty 
to  it  they  are  ready  to  turn  their  attention  to  things  of 
war;  for,  say  they:  "  The  Attic  woman  is  no  slave,  and 
has  sufficient  courage  to  take  up  arms  in  her  country's 
cause:  now,  war  shall  be  a  care  to  women." 

These  reflections  have  a  decided  importance  in  a  con- 
sideration of  the  social  history  of  the  times  by  suggesting 
how  the  female  sex  developed  under  the  trying  conditions 
of  war. 

In  the  poet's  delineation  of  Lysistrata,  the  scene  in 
which  she  describes  to  the  assembled  Athenian  and  Laco- 
nian  deputies  their  political  sins  gains  special  importance. 
She  possesses  historical  insight.  By  recounting  historical 
facts,  she  reminds  them  of  what  the  Laconians  have  done 
for  the  Athenians,  and  what  the  latter  for  the  Laconians, 
and  awakens  them  to  general  Pan-Hellenic  interests,  for 
which  they  should  labor  in  common  instead  of  weakening 
their  power  in  fratricidal  war.  In  this  address  she  char- 
acterizes herself  as  follows:  "I  am  a  woman,  it  is  true;  but 
I  have  understanding;  and  of  myself  I  am  not  badly  off  in 
respect  of  intellect.  By  having  often  heard  the  remarks  of 
my  father  and  my  elders,  I  have  not  been  ill  educated." 

We  have  then  in  the  Lysistrata  the  women  of  the  day  led 
on  in  a  great  patriotic  movement  by  an  educated  and  elo- 
quent woman.  The  play  exhibits  a  constant  battle  of  words 
between  men  and  women,  each  grouped  in  a  chorus.  The 
women  seize  the  Acropolis  and  make  themselves  experts 
in  the  science  of  war.  Their  plans  succeed;  and  the  hus- 
bands are  reduced  to  a  terrible  plight  by  the  novel  resolu- 
tion adopted  by  their  wives  to  bring  them  to  terms.  Envoys 
at  length  come  from  the  belligerent  parties,  and  peace  is 
concluded  under  the  direction  of  the  clever  Lysistrata. 


THE  WOMAN  QUESTION  IN  ANCIENT  ATHENS      255 

If  from  the  unbridled  drollery  and  serious  moral  of 
the  drama  we  endeavor  to  reach  conclusions  regarding  the 
Woman  Question,  they  will  be  found  to  be  about  as  fol- 
lows. There  were  at  this  time  certain  prominent  women 
who  were  endeavoring  to  have  the  natural  capabilities  of 
the  female  sex  more  justly  esteemed,  and  energetic  voices 
were  being  raised  against  the  humble  status  of  woman  in 
society  and  in  public  affairs.  This  movement  was  quick- 
ened in  the  latter  part  of  the  century,  owing  to  the  mis- 
takes of  the  Peloponnesian  War,  but  the  efforts  of  women 
to  assert  their  rights  were  met  by  the  violent  opposition  of 
the  conservative  party.  The  leader  in  the  Lysistrata,  in 
her  gift  of  speech  and  breadth  of  understanding,  typifies 
some  historical  women  who  took  a  prominent  part  in  the 
movement,  and  these  were,  probably,  some  aristocratic 
ladies  who  had  been  influenced  by  Aspasia. 

The  unique  importance  of  the  Lysistrata  consists  in  its 
portraiture  of  the  leaders  of  the  woman's  rights  move- 
ment and  in  its  suggestion  of  the  ambitious  projects  they 
were  prepared  to  undertake.  The  Ecclesia^usce  is,  like  the 
Lysistrata,  a  picture  of  woman's  ascendency,  but  it  goes 
further  in  satirizing  some  of  the  schemes  which  in  daily 
conversation  and  in  the  works  of  the  philosophers  were 
being  presented  for  bettering  the  conditions  of  society 
and  improving  the  status  of  women.  The  success  of 
such  a  play  presupposes  that  the  minds  of  the  audience 
were  prepared  for  it  by  the  informal  discussion  of  such 
questions  in  everyday  life.  The  Athenian  ladies,  in  the 
Ecclesiaqusce,  under  the  leadership  of  Praxagora, — who  is 
endowed  with  much  the  same  gifts  as  Lysistrata,  and  is,  in 
fact,  a  replica  of  that  clever  woman, — disguise  themselves 
as  men  and  crowd  the  public  assembly;  by  means  of  the 
majority  of  votes  which  they  have  thus  fraudulently 
obtained,  they  overturn  the  government  of  the  men  and 


256  WOMAN 

proclaim  the  supremacy  of  the  women  in  the  State.  Prax- 
agora,  the  leading  agitator,  is  chosen  strategis,  and  she 
immediately  proclaims,  as  the  fundamental  principles  of 
the  new  State,  community  of  property  and  free  trade 
between  the  sexes — ideas  which  were  prominent  in  the 
ideal  Republic  of  Plato  and  had  been  earlier  projected  by 
Protagoras.  "The  point  of  the  satire  consists  in  this: 
that  the  arguments  by  which  the  women  get  the  upper 
hand  all  turn  on  their  avowed  conservatism;  men  change 
and  shift,  women  preserve  their  old  customs  and  will 
maintain  the  ethos  of  the  State;  but  no  sooner  have  they 
got  authority  than  they  show  themselves  more  democratic 
than  the  demagogues,  more  new-fangled  in  their  political 
notions  than  the  philosophers.  They  upset  time-honored 
institutions  and  make  new  ones  to  suit  their  own  caprices, 
squaring  the  laws  according  to  the  logic  of  feminine  in- 
stinct. Of  course,  speculations  like  those  of  Plato's  Re- 
public are  satirized  in  the  farcical  scenes  which  illustrate 
the  consequences  of  this  female  revolution.  But  per- 
haps the  finest  point  about  the  comedy  is  its  harmonious 
insight  into  the  workings  of  women's  minds — a  clear  sense 
of  what  a  topsy-turvy  world  we  should  have  to  live  in  if 
women  were  the  lawgivers  and  governors." 

We  have  thus  briefly  sketched  the  indications  of  the 
prevalence  of  the  Woman  Question  in  Athens,  as  presented 
in  the  plays  of  Aristophanes.  This  writer  furthermore 
affords  us  many  ludicrous  pictures  of  woman  in  private 
life,  which  indicate  that  the  fair  sex  were  not  always  as 
weak  as  men  would  have  them.  The  chorus  of  the  Thes- 
mophoria^usce  resent  the  many  ill  things  said  of  the  race 
of  women, — "that  we  are  an  utter  evil  to  men,  and  that 
all  evils  spring  from  us,  strifes,  quarrels,  seditions,  painful 
grief,  and  war.  Come,  now,  if  we  are  an  evil,  why  do 
you  marry  us,  if  indeed  we  are  really  an  evil,  and  forbid 


THE  WOMAN  QUESTION  IN  ANCIENT  ATHENS      257 

any  of  us  either  to  go  out,  or  to  be  caught  peeping  out, 
but  wish  to  guard  the  evil  thing  with  so  great  diligence? 
And  if  the  wife  should  go  out  any  whither,  and  you  then 
should  discover  her  to  be  out  of  doors,  you  rage  with  mad- 
ness, who  ought  to  offer  libations  and  rejoice,  if  indeed 
you  really  find  the  evil  thing  to  be  gone  away  from  the 
house  and  do  not  find  it  at  home.  And  if  we  sleep  in  other 
peoples'  houses,  when  we  play  and  when  we  are  tired, 
everyone  searches  for  this  evil  thing,  going  round  about 
the  beds.  And  if  we  peep  out  of  a  window,  everyone  seeks 
to  get  a  sight  of  the  evil  thing.  And  if  we  retire  again, 
being  ashamed,  so  much  the  more  does  everyone  desire  to 
see  the  evil  thing  peep  out  again.  So  manifestly  are  we 
much  better  than  you."  As  portrayed  by  Aristophanes, 
the  women  of  his  day  manifestly  knew  how  to  assert  their 
equality.  Feminine  foibles  and  weaknesses  do  not  escape 
his  satiric  pen.  Women  are  overfond  of  dress,  and  no 
brilliant  or  prudent  action  can  be  expected  of  them, 

"  Who  sit  deck'd  out  with  flowers,  and  bearing  robes 
Of  saffron  hue,  and  richly  border'd  o'er 
With  loose  Cimmerian  vests  and  circling  sandals." 

Furthermore,  they  are  fond  of  drink,  and  this  vice  is 
mercilessly  satirized.  The  inexorable  oath  administered 
by  Lysistrata  to  her  comrades,  in  entering  upon  their 
crusade  to  bring  about  peace,  is  one  which  no  Athenian 
woman  would  incur  the  penalty  of  breaking:  "  If  I  violate 
my  pledge,  may  the  cup  be  filled  with  water!" 

Occasionally  a  man  found  he  had  married  a  wife  who 
set  aside  his  conjugal  authority  and  ruled  the  household. 
Thus  Strepsiades,  the  country  gentleman  of  Aristophanes's 
Clouds,  quarrelled  with  his  luxurious,  city-bred  wife,  of  the 
aristocratic  house  of  Megacles,  over  the  naming  of  their 
son,  which  was  the  father's  right,  and,  woman-like,  she 


258  WOMAN 

carried  her  point;  and  this  son  she  brought  up  to  despise 
his  father's  country  ways  and  to  squander  his  father's 
substance  in  horse  racing. 

Aristophanes  was  not  the  only  comic  poet  who  indulged 
in  gibes  at  the  female  sex,  for  the  object  of  comedy  was 
to  amuse,  and  the  Athenian  audience  of  men  ever  found 
delight  in  the  portrayal  of  the  weaknesses  and  foibles  of 
the  opposite  sex.  Even  his  predecessor  Susarion,  who 
was  the  first  to  compose  comedy  in  verse,  and  is  usually 
called  the  inventor  of  comedy,  gave  expression  to  the 
current  abuse:  "Hear,  O  ye  people!  Susarion  says  this, 
the  son  of  Philinus,  the  Megarian,  of  Tripodiscus:  women 
are  an  evil;  and  yet,  my  countrymen,  one  cannot  set  up 
house  without  evil;  for  to  be  married  or  not  to  be  married 
is  alike  bad."  It  is  unfortunate  for  our  purpose  that  so 
little  survives  of  the  numberless  plays  of  the  Middle  and 
New  Comedy,  especially  the  latter,  for  this  comedy  of 
manners  presented  a  close  and  faithful  picture  of  domestic 
life  and  would  have  been  an  almost  inexhaustible  mine  of 
information  on  Attic  life  in  general,  full  as  it  was  of  illus- 
trations of  the  manners,  feelings,  prejudices,  and  ways  of 
thinking  of  the  Ancient  Greeks. 

The  fragments  preserved  to  us  are  sufficient,  however, 
to  give  us  glimpses  of  the  manner  in  which  woman  was 
treated  on  the  stage;  and,  while  there  was  much  harsh 
criticism,  it  is  gratifying  to  note  that  her  good  qualities 
were  at  times  recognized.  Says  the  poet  Antiphanes: 

"  What !  when  you  court  concealment,  will  you  tell 
The  matter  to  a  woman  ?    Just  as  well 
Tell  all  the  criers  in  the  public  squares ! 
'Tis  hard  to  say  which  of  them  louder  blares." 

"Great  Zeus,"  says  another  poet,  "may  I  perish,  if  I  ever 
spoke  against  woman,  the  most  precious  of  all  acquisitions. 


THE  WOMAN  QUESTION  IN  ANCIENT  ATHENS      259 

For  if  Medea  was  an  objectionable  person,  surely  Penelope 
was  an  excellent  creature.  Does  anyone  abuse  Clytem- 
nestra?  I  oppose  the  admirable  Alcestis.  But  perhaps 
someone  may  abuse  Phaedra;  then  I  say,  by  Zeus!  what  a 
capital  person  was  .  .  .  Oh,  dear!  the  catalogue  of 
good  women  is  already  exhausted,  while  there  remains  a 
crowd  of  bad  ones  that  might  be  mentioned."  "  Woman's 
a  necessary  and  undying  evil,"  says  Philemon;  and  in 
another  fragment: 

"  A  good  wife's  duty  'tis,  Nicostratus, 
Not  to  command,  but  to  obey  her  spouse ; 
Most  mischievous  a  wife  who  rules  her  husband." 

Menander,  the  greatest  representative  of  the  New  Com- 
edy, has  been  compared  to  a  mirror,  so  clear  were  the 
images  he  presented  of  human  life.  His  epigrammatic 
sayings  are  justly  famous,  and  many  of  them  refer  to 
woman.  "  Manner,  not  money,  makes  a  woman's  charm," 
says  he  in  one  passage;  and  in  another: 

"When  thou  fair  woman  seest,  marvel  not ; 
Great  beauty's  oft  to  countless  faults  allied." 

"  Where  women  are,  there  every  ill  is  found,"  is  still 
another  disparaging  sentiment,  as  is  his  repetition  of  the 
frequent  gibe  at  marriage: 

"  Marriage,  if  truth  be  told  (of  this  be  sure), 
An  evil  is — but  one  we  must  endure." 

Yet  the  poet  was  also  appreciative  of  the  good  qualities 
in  woman,  as  is  seen  in  the  sentiment:  "A  good  woman 
is  the  rudder  of  her  household;"  with  which  we  may 
compare  the  words  of  another  poet: 

"  A  sympathetic  wife  is  man's  chief est  treasure ;" 


260  WOMAN 

and  at  times  Menander  notes  how  even  a  woman  of  serious 
faults  may  prove  to  be  the  greatest  blessing: 

"  How  burdensome  a  wife  extravagant ; 
Not  as  he  would  may  he  who's  ta'en  her  live. 
Yet  this  of  good  she  has :  she  bears  him  children; 
She  watches  o'er  his  couch,  if  he  be  sick, 
With  tender  care ;  she's  ever  by  his  side 
When  fortune  frowns ;  and  should  he  chance  to  die, 
The  last  sad  rites  with  honor  due  she  pays." 

Surely  a  touching  portraiture  of  woman's  gentle  minis- 
try, and  worthy  to  be  compared  with  Scott's  famous  lines! 
In  spite  of  the  numerous  complaints  against  woman,  the 
plays  of  the  New  Comedy  usually  ended  in  a  happy 
marriage — the  wild  youth  falls  in  love  with  the  penniless 
maiden,  reforms,  discovers  her  to  be  wellborn,  and  wins 
over  the  angry  parent;  then  follow  joyous  wedding  fes- 
tivities, and  happiness  ever  afterward.  Such  is  the  usual 
course  of  the  plot.  Satirical  reflections  on  woman,  espe- 
cially when  made  in  poetry,  must  not  be  taken  too  seri- 
ously; and  where  romantic  love  is  also  the  theme  for  song, 
we  may  be  sure  that  woman,  though  much  abused,  is  yet 
tenderly  regarded  and  highly  esteemed  among  men. 

A  social  movement  for  the  emancipation  of  woman, 
which  had  occupied  the  attention  of  thinking  men  and 
women  of  Athens  in  the  latter  half  of  the  fifth  century 
before  Christ,  which  had  been  started  by  Aspasia  in  her 
salon,  which  had  been  discussed  by  Socrates  and  the 
Socratics,  especially  ^Eschines,  and  which  had  brought 
about  a  battle  royal  between  the  dramatists  Euripides  and 
Aristophanes,  naturally  called  for  scientific  treatment  at 
the  hands  of  the  philosophers.  The  works  of  Plato,  Aris- 
totle, and  Xenophon  accordingly  devote  much  space  to  the 
consideration  of  the  Woman  Question.  The  female  sex, 


THE   WOMAN  QUESTION   IN  ANCIENT  ATHENS      261 

hitherto  "accustomed  to  live  cowed  and  in  obscurity," — 
as  Plato  puts  it, — justly  claimed  more  favorable  conditions; 
and  the  philosophers  who  endeavored  to  bring  about  a 
better  social  status  asserted  that  woman  deserved  proper 
recognition  at  the  hands  of  men. 

Plato  had  taken  seriously  to  heart  the  lessons  of  the 
Peloponnesian  War.  He  was  keenly  sensitive  to  the  evils 
of  democracy  as  then  existent,  and  recognized  the  need  of 
governmental  and  social  reform.  He  felt  that  in  the  dis- 
regard of  women  at  least  half  the  citizen  population  had 
been  neglected,  and  we  have  in  his  works  the  strongest 
assertion  of  the  equality  of  the  sexes. 

"And  so,"  he  says,  in  one  of  his  dialogues,  "in  the 
administration  of  a  State,  neither  a  woman  as  a  woman 
nor  a  man  as  a  man  has  any  special  function,  but  the  gifts 
of  nature  are  equally  diffused  in  both  sexes;  all  the  pur- 
suits of  men  are  the  pursuits  of  women  also,  and  in  all 
of  these  woman  is  only  a  lesser  man."  "Very  true." 
"Then  are  we  to  impose  all  our  enactments  on  men  and 
none  on  women?"  "  That  will  never  do."  "  One  woman 
has  a  gift  of  healing,  another  not;  one  is  a  musician, 
another  is  not."  "Very  true."  "And  one  woman  has 
a  turn  for  gymnastic  and  military  exercises,  while  another 
is  unwarlike  and  hates  gymnastics."  "  Beyond  ques- 
tion." "And  one  woman  is  a  philosopher,  and  another 
is  an  enemy  of  philosophy;  one  has  spirit,  and  another  is 
without  spirit."  "  This  is  also  true." 

From  these  premises,  recognizing  the  diversity  of  gifts 
among  women  and  the  correspondence  of  their  talents 
with  those  of  men,  though  less  in  degree,  Plato  affirms 
that  women  should  receive  a  training  similar  to  that  ac- 
corded to  men;  to  them  should  be  given  the  same  educa- 
tion and  assigned  the  same  duties,  though  the  lighter  tasks 
should  fall  to  them  as  being  less  strong  physically. 


262  WOMAN 

"  There  shall  be  compulsory  education,"  says  Plato,  in 
his  Laws,  "for  females  as  well  as  males;  they  shall  both 
go  through  the  same  exercises.  I  assert,  without  fear  of 
contradiction,  that  gymnastic  exercises  and  horsemanship 
are  as  suitable  to  women  as  to  men.  I  further  affirm  that 
nothing  can  be  more  absurd  than  the  practice  which  prevails 
in  our  country,  of  men  and  women  not  following  the  same 
pursuits  with  all  their  strength  and  with  one  mind,  for  thus 
the  State,  instead  of  being  a  whole,  is  reduced  to  a  half." 

The  view  of  Plato,  as  stated  in  his  Republic,  which 
aroused  the  most  hostile  criticism  was  his  theory  of  the 
community  of  women  as  well  as  of  property.  But  this 
grew  out  of  the  fundamental  thesis  in  his  theory  of  gov- 
ernment: that  the  State  must  be  developed  into  a  perfect 
unity.  The  family  as  a  private  possession  disturbed 
this  unity,  and  must  therefore  be  dispensed  with. 

This  theory,  however,  proved  too  extreme,  even  for 
Plato  himself,  and  in  his  Laws  he  returns  to  the  idea 
of  marriage,  but  he  follows  the  Spartan  system  by  put- 
ting marriage  under  the  constant  surveillance  of  legislation. 
He  wishes  every  man  to  contract  that  marriage  which  is 
most  beneficial  to  the  State,  not  that  which  is  most  pleasing 
to  himself.  He  urges  that  people  of  opposing  tempera- 
ments and  of  different  conditions  in  life  should  wed, — the 
stronger  with  the  weaker,  the  richer  with  the  poorer, — 
"  perceiving  that  the  city  ought  to  be  well  mingled,  like  a 
cup  in  which  the  maddening  wine  is  hot  and  fiery,  but, 
when  chastened  by  a  soberer  god,  receives  a  fair  associate 
and  becomes  an  excellent  and  temperate  drink."  By  such 
arguments  he  endeavors  to  beguile  the  spirits  of  men  into 
believing  that  the  equability  of  their  children's  disposition 
is  of  more  importance  than  equality  when  they  marry. 

The  philosopher  does  not  seem  to  see  the  humor  in  his 
proposal  to  bring  together  contrary  natures,  nor  the  pain 


THE   WOMAN   QUESTION  IN  ANCIENT  ATHENS      263 

he  would  inflict  on  the  parties  most  concerned.  With  him 
the  interest  of  the  State  is  supreme,  and  to  that  everything 
must  yield. 

However,  even  amid  such  extreme  doctrines  we  find 
wise  counsel,  inspired  by  a  more  practical  and  humane 
spirit.  Plato  finds  fault  with  the  prevailing  custom  of 
not  giving  young  people  an  opportunity  to  become  ac- 
quainted with  each  other  before  marriage;  and  he  recog- 
nizes, from  the  excellent  influence  of  the  wife's  activity 
in  the  home,  how  much  she  might  contribute  to  the  well- 
being  of  the  State  if  she  were  taken  out  of  seclusion  and 
intimately  associated  with  the  life  of  her  husband. 

The  woman's  rights  movement  reached  its  high-water 
mark  in  the  works  of  Plato.  Thenceforth  there  were  a 
gradual  decline  in  the  conception  of  woman's  capacities 
and  a  lessening  of  the  demands  for  her  emancipation. 

Aristotle  is  less  generous  than  Plato  in  his  concessions 
to  woman.  "The  male  is  by  nature  superior,  and  the 
female  inferior;  the  one  rules,  the  other  is  ruled;  this 
principle  of  necessity  is  extended  to  all  mankind."  Thus 
he  asserts  woman's  inferiority  to  man  and  he  insists  upon 
her  silent  and  passive  obedience.  The  difference  of  func- 
tions and  duties  he  bases  upon  difference  of  nature.  "  The 
temperance  and  courage  of  a  man  are  other  than  those  of 
a  woman.  For  a  man  who  is  courageous  only  as  a  woman 
is  will  seem  timid,  and  a  woman  will  seem  impudent  if 
she  has  merely  the  reserve  and  modesty  of  an  honest 
man.  Thus,  in  a  family,  a  woman's  duties  differ  from 
a  man's — his  it  is  to  acquire,  hers  to  preserve."  Each 
woman,  however,  has  her  part  in  the  State,  and  should 
be  prepared  for  it.  "In  women  the  qualities  of  the  body 
are  beauty  and  height;  those  of  the  soul  are  temperance 
and  love  of  work,  without  baseness.  An  individual  and  a 
State  should  desire  each  of  these  qualities  in  both  men 


264  WOMAN 

and  women."  Yet,  while  asserting  woman's  inferiority, 
Aristotle  recognizes  the  sanctity  of  marriage  and  of  the 
family,  and  preaches  to  men  faithfulness  and  regard  and 
appreciation  in  their  attitude  toward  women.  In  his 
Ethics  he  dwells  with  delicacy  on  the  affectionate  regard 
husband  and  wife  should  each  have  for  the  other.  They 
should  bear  with  and  encourage  each  other  in  all  the 
events  of  life.  And  while  he  insists  upon  the  limita- 
tions of  woman's  intelligence  and  reasoning  powers,  he 
yet  recognizes  her  superiority  to  man  in  qualities  of  the 
heart;  and  when  he  wishes  to  give  an  example  of  disin- 
terested and  ideal  affection,  it  is  woman  who  serves  as  his 
model.  On  the  whole,  Aristotle  draws  a  more  pleasing 
picture  of  woman's  character  and  position  than  Plato,  in 
spite  of  the  greater  equality  granted  by  the  latter.  Plato's 
philosophy  was  primarily  the  product  of  imagination,  Aris- 
totle's of  experience;  Plato  was  essentially  theoretical, 
Aristotle  practical.  Hence  the  teachings  of  the  Stagirite 
were  doubtless  based  on  examples  of  conjugal  unity  and 
felicity  which  he  saw  about  him,  and  he  extended  to  the 
Athenian  people  in  general  the  views  of  marital  relations 
that  prevailed  in  his  own  circle. 

Xenophon's  treatise  on  Domestic  Economy  was  probably 
intended  to  be  a  contribution  to  the  current  discussion  of 
the  Woman  Question;  in  it  he  sought  to  prove  the  falsity 
of  the  views  of  Plato  and  Aristotle,  who  advocated  greater 
freedom  for  woman,  and  at  the  same  time  endeavored  to 
reform  existing  conditions  without  materially  changing 
them.  In  his  Recollections  of  Socrates,  he  expresses,  as  the 
views  of  that  philosopher,  opinions  of  the  high  value  of 
the  sex,  but  only  in  purely  domestic  relations.  Socrates 
insists  upon  reverence  for  and  obedience  to  the  mother, 
who  watches  over  her  children  with  tender  affection  and 
unwearied  solicitude;  who,  when  they  are  capable  of 


THE  WOMAN  QUESTION  IN  ANCIENT  ATHENS      265 

receiving  instruction,  endeavors  to  instil  into  their  minds 
the  knowledge  which  win  best  conduce  to  their  future 
welfare.  "For  the  man  who  is  wanting  in  respect  to 
parents,"  he  adds,  "public  punishments  are  appointed; 
the  laws  yield  him  no  longer  their  protection,  neither  is 
he  permitted  any  share  in  the  administration;  since  they 
think  no  sacrifice  offered  by  a  hand  so  impious  can  be 
acceptable  to  the  gods  or  beneficial  to  man."  These  and 
other  passages  show  that  the  Socrates  of  Xenophon  enter- 
tained very  delicate  sentiments  regarding  the  domestic 
life.  He  saw  in  woman  the  diligent  mother  and  industrious 
housekeeper,  watchful  of  her  house  and  its  management. 
He  leaves  her  in  her  seclusion,  occupied  with  her  quiet 
domestic  duties,  but  at  the  same  time  he  recognizes  the 
charm  as  wen  as  the  usefulness  of  her  presence  in  the 
home.  Her  economy,  vigilance,  and  care  are  of  inesti- 
mable value  to  her  husband.  He  regards  marriage  as  a 
union  in  which  husband  and  wife  have  each  his  or  her 
own  duties  as  well  as  authority.  His  views  are  a  contrast 
to  those  of  his  time,  when  the  rights  were  all  on  one  side, 
while  on  the  other  were  only  duty  and  submission. 

The  Domestic  Economy  of  Xenophon  is  but  an  exposi- 
tion and  illustration  of  the  views  which  the  author  here 
attributes  to  Socrates.  The  most  remarkable  feature  in 
Xenophon's  system  of  woman  training  is  the  utter  absence 
of  any  intellectual  discipline.  Manifestly,  he  did  not  be- 
lieve in  the  mental  equality  of  the  sexes.  His  was  a 
purely  industrial  system  of  education,  one  merely  designed 
to  fit  woman  for  the  duties  of  the  home. 

It  is  not  improbable  that  in  this  work  is  embodied  the 
view  which  pleased  the  majority  of  the  Athenian  public 
regarding  the  aspirations  of  women.  Thus,  after  more 
than  half  a  century  of  discussion,  the  agitation  for  the 
emancipation  of  woman  seems  not  to  have  accomplished 


266  WOMAN 

any  demonstrable  change  in  her  social  life,  but  to  have 
resolved  itself  merely  into  a  plea  for  better  equipment 
for  her  domestic  duties.  Yet  even  this  was  something 
gained;  and  if  all  the  husbands  of  Athens  were  as  con- 
scientious as  Ischomachus  in  training  their  wives  for  the 
duties  of  home,  and  gave  them  the  companionship  which 
such  an  education  involved,  there  must  have  been  marked 
improvement  in  the  social  status  of  woman. 

Perhaps  it  was  impossible  for  women  to  be  accorded 
greater  liberty  of  action  while  the  ancient  conception  of 
the  city-state  obtained.  Woman's  harmonious  develop- 
ment regularly  keeps  pace  with  her  freedom,  and  the 
intellectual  possibilities  of  the  sex  are  only  limited  by 
the  opportunities  afforded.  The  men  who  were  responsi- 
ble for  the  system  could  hurl  their  shafts  of  satire  at  the 
uncultivated  women  confined  to  their  apartments  and  their 
domestic  cares;  but  whenever  the  least  liberty  of  action 
was  granted  those  women,  they  proved  themselves  fully 
equal  to  the  men  in  intellectual  capacity,  and  the  Greek 
woman  always  exceeded  her  brothers  in  moral  sublimity 
and  unselfishness.  The  root  of  the  evil  was  the  system 
of  government.  Soon  Philip  and  Alexander  were  to  put 
an  end  with  their  legions  to  the  exclusiveness  of  the  city- 
state,  and  the  Greek  woman  of  the  Hellenistic  period  was 
destined  to  enjoy  greater  freedom  and  greater  influence. 


adapter 
OSreefe  aSJomau  in  Religion 


XII 

GREEK  WOMAN  IN  RELIGION 

MORE  spiritual  by  nature,  more  inclined  to  mysticism, 
with  keener  intuitions,  woman  has  ever  taken  a  more 
prominent  part  in  religious  matters  than  man.  Hence, 
even  in  such  a  country  as  Hellas,  where  woman  was  ex- 
cluded from  so  many  lines  of  human  activity,  we  find  that 
in  religious  observance  she  had  equal  freedom  with  man, 
and  far  exceeded  him  in  devoutness  and  religious  fervor. 
The  Greeks,  though  they  had  only  the  light  of  nature  to 
guide  them,  were  essentially  a  spiritual  people.  They  saw 
the  hand  of  the  Unseen  everywhere  manifesting  itself  in 
natural  phenomena:  they  recognized  divinities  in  the  fer- 
tility of  the  soil,  in  the  stars  of  the  heavens,  in  the 
crystal  waters  of  the  spring,  in  the  rain  and  in  the  storm 
cloud,  in  the  winds  of  the  forest.  They  even  personified 
abstractions,  and  deified  emotions  and  virtues.  Nor  were 
they  merely  content  with  inward  piety,  but  endeavored  in 
every  way  by  outward  observance  to  worship  the  deities 
which  were  the  creations  of  their  own  myth-making  facul- 
ties; and  in  all  the  religious  ceremonials  of  the  Greeks 
woman  played  a  prominent  role. 

All  the  Greek  peoples  gloried  in  being  of  the  same  blood 
and  language  and  religion.  Though  widely  separated  polit- 
ically and  engaged  in  endless  wars  among  themselves,  the 

269 


270  WOMAN 

chief  bond  of  union  known  to  them  was  the  common  cult 
of  some  divinity  and  participation  in  the  same  religious 
festivals.  The  oracles,  the  temples,  the  games,  the  pro- 
cessions in  honor  of  their  gods,  tended  to  maintain  the 
unity  of  Greece  and  were  the  promoters  of  national  senti- 
ment. Woman's  part  in  these  bonds  of  union  made  her 
influential  in  the  welfare  of  the  common  country,  and 
religious  ceremonies  were  to  her  occasions  in  which  she 
could  feel  herself  an  essential  factor  in  Greek  life. 

In  the  childhood  of  the  world,  man,  who  reached  con- 
clusions by  a  long  process  of  reasoning,  stood  in  awe  of 
the  intuitive  faculty  in  woman  that  enabled  her  to  arrive 
at  a  truth  without  apparent  effort.  Hence  the  spirit  of 
divination  was  thought  to  be  inherent  in  the  sex,  and 
women  were  prophetesses  from  remote  ages.  Among 
pagan  peoples,  the  earliest  manifestations  of  the  prophetic 
instinct  in  woman  were  recognized  in  the  persons  of  cer- 
tain seers  to  whom  was  given  the  name  of  Sibyls.  The 
word  in  its  etymology  signifies  the  "will  of  God,"  and  was 
applied  to  the  inspired  prophetesses  of  some  deity,  chiefly 
of  Apollo.  The  Sibyls  were  generally  represented  as 
maidens,  dwelling  in  lonely  caverns  or  by  sacred  springs, 
who  were  possessed  of  the  spirit  of  divination  and  gave 
forth  prophetic  utterances  while  under  the  influence  of 
enthusiastic  frenzy.  Their  number,  their  names,  their 
countries,  their  times,  are  matters  about  which  we  have  no 
certain  knowledge;  but  twelve  are  mentioned  by  ancient 
writers,  of  whom  three  were  certainly  Greek — the  Del- 
phian, the  Erythrean,  and  the  Samian.  Herophila,  the 
Erythrean  Sibyl,  was  the  most  celebrated  of  them  all,  and 
she  is  represented  as  wandering  from  her  Ionian  home,  by 
manifold  journeyings,  to  Cumas,  in  Magna  Graecia,  whence 
she  became  known  as  the  Cumaean  Sibyl.  She  it  was 
whom  yEneas  consulted  before  his  descent  into  Hades, 


GREEK  WOMAN  IN  RELIGION  271 

and  who  later  sold  to  the  last  Tarquin  the  prophetic  books. 
It  was  believed  that  her  age  reached  a  thousand  years. 

Women  also  were  priestesses  at  the  oracles  of  Hellas, 
which  were  seats  of  the  worship  of  certain  divinities,  where 
prophecies  were  imparted  to  inquiring  souls  through  the 
instrumentality  of  the  attendants  of  the  deity.  The  oldest 
and  most  venerated  of  the  oracles  was  that  of  Zeus  at 
Dodona,  mentioned  by  Homer.  Here,  among  the  prophetic 
oaks,  priestesses  read  the  future  in  the  rustling  of  the 
leaves  and  in  the  creaking  of  the  branches,  in  the  bubbling 
of  a  spring  and  in  the  sounds  made  by  brazen  cymbals 
hung  near  the  sacred  shrine.  Herodotus  visited  this  oracle, 
and  gives  the  names  of  the  three  priestesses  who  officiated 
in  his  time.  These  priestesses — Promenia,  Timarete,  Ni- 
candra — related  to  him  a  very  interesting  story  concerning 
the  origin  of  the  oracle.  They  traced  its  sacred  legends 
back  to  the  worship  in  the  famous  temple  of  Thebes  in 
Egypt.  Two  doves,  they  said,  flew  away  one  day  from 
the  city  of  Thebes  and  took  their  flight  into  distant  lands. 
One  alighted  in  Libya,  on  the  spot  where  the  oracle  of 
Jupiter  Ammon  was  later  established;  while  the  other, 
crossing  the  sea,  flew  as  far  as  Dodona,  where,  perching  on 
an  oak,  in  human  voice  she  commanded  those  that  heard 
her  to  establish  there  an  oracle  of  Zeus.  For  this  reason 
the  priestesses  were  known  as  Peliades,  or  doves.  When, 
however,  Herodotus  inquired  of  the  priests  in  Thebes 
about  the  tradition,  they  told  a  different  story:  that  two 
priestesses  of  their  temple  had  once  been  carried  off  from 
Egypt  by  the  Phoenicians  and  sold  into  slavery,  and  that 
one  of  these  priestesses  finally  established  herself  at  Do- 
dona. So,  whether  dove  or  priestess,  the  tradition  of  the 
Egyptian  origin  of  the  oracle  seemed  confirmed. 

Apollo,  however,  rather  than  Zeus,  was  the  god  of 
prophecy,  and  it  was  generally  in  connection  with  his 


2/2  WOMAN 

shrines  that  oracles  were  spoken.  Usually,  fountains 
whose  water  was  supposed  to  influence  the  workings  of  the 
mind,  or  caverns  whence  escaped  a  gas  producing  delirium 
or  hallucination,  were  regarded  as  places  where  the  divin- 
ity was  present.  Hence  there  existed  numerous  oracles 
of  Apollo  in  Greece  proper  and  in  Asia  Minor.  The  most 
celebrated  of  the  latter  was  the  oracle  of  the  Didymaean 
Apollo  at  Branchidse,  near  Miletus,  where  a  priestess  ut- 
tered prophecies,  seated  on  a  wheel-shaped  disk,  after  she 
had  bathed  the  hem  of  her  robe  and  her  feet  in  the  sacred 
spring  and  had  breathed  the  vapors  arising  from  it. 

The  most  illustrious  of  all  the  oracles  of  ancient  Hellas 
was  at  Delphi,  which  is  situated,  like  a  vast  amphitheatre, 
above  the  beautiful  plain  of  Cirrha  in  Phocis,  with  the 
double  summits  of  Parnassus  forming  the  background. 
Delphi  became  the  centre  of  the  Hellenic  religion,  and  the 
fame  of  its  oracle  extended  as  far  as  to  Lydia  in  the  east, 
and  to  Rome  and  the  Etruscans  in  the  west.  At  first,  a 
young  maiden  took  the  part  of  the  priestess  of  Apollo 
who  gave  the  responses;  but  the  authorities  realizing  the 
dangers  to  which  the  beauty  of  the  priestess  might  lead,  a 
woman  of  at  least  fifty  years  of  age  was  later  selected 
for  the  honor,  and  finally,  as  one  prophetess  was  not  suffi- 
cient to  answer  the  questions  of  the  vast  crowd  of  pilgrims 
that  assembled  to  consult  the  oracle,  three  were  chosen. 
The  name  given  to  the  inspired  priestess  was  always  the 
same,  that  of  Pythia. 

To  prepare  the  priestess  for  the  ordeal  which  was  to 
make  known  the  will  of  the  god,  she  was  kept  fasting  for 
a  number  of  days — a  condition  favorable  to  hallucinations, 
and  then  was  given  laurel  leaves  to  chew  because  of  their 
narcotic  virtue.  Then  the  Pythia  was  seated  on  a  tripod, 
placed  in  the  middle  of  the  sanctuary,  over  an  opening  in 
the  ground  whence  mephitic  vapors  were  escaping.  Her 


GREEK  WOMAN  IN  RELIGION  273 

head  was  crowned  with  a  garland  made  from  the  tree  of 
Apollo,  and  about  the  tripod  coiled  a  snake,  the  emblem 
of  the  art  of  divination.  The  exhalations  from  the  abyss 
were  deemed  to  be  the  very  breath  of  the  god,  with  which 
he  inspired  his  priestess.  Soon  she  grew  pale  and  trem- 
bled with  convulsive  movements;  her  only  utterances  at 
first  were  groans  and  sighs;  and  now,  with  eyes  aflame, 
with  hair  dishevelled,  and  with  foam  on  her  lips,  amid 
shrieks  of  anguish  she  gave  forth  a  few  incoherent,  dis- 
connected words.  The  god  had  at  last  spoken  through 
his  priestess.  The  words  were  carefully  written  down  by 
the  attendant  priest,  who  gave  a  rhythmic  form  to  the 
response,  and  thus  a  revelation  of  the  future  was  made 
known  to  the  anxious  inquirer. 

The  Pythia  was  consulted  by  all  the  peoples  of  Greece, 
as  well  as  by  kings  and  strangers  from  foreign  lands. 
Colonies  to  Italy,  to  Africa,  to  the  regions  about  the 
Black  Sea,  were  sent  at  her  command;  she  sanctioned 
laws;  she  taught  Lycurgus  that  the  best  laws  were  those 
which  obliged  rulers  to  rule  well  and  subjects  to  obey 
well.  To  the  conquered,  she  counselled  resignation  and 
hope.  Peoples  lusting  for  conquest,  she  bade  revive  their 
piety  toward  the  gods  and  seek  the  mercy  of  heaven  by 
showing  themselves  merciful.  She  was  also  the  guardian 
of  individual  morality.  To  a  king  desiring  peace  of  mind, 
she  declared  that  his  unhappiness  was  due  to  his  and 
his  predecessors'  wrong-doings,  and  recommended  the 
exercise  of  clemency  when  he  returned  home.  Being 
asked:  "Who  is  the  happiest  of  men?"  she  replied: 
"  Phaedrus,  who  has  died  for  his  country."  A  man  named 
Glaucus  wished  to  withhold  a  treasure  which  had  been 
confided  to  him,  but  decided  first  to  get  the  sanction  of 
the  oracle;  the  Pythia  revealed  to  him  the  woes  reserved 
for  the  perjured.  To  the  lot  of  Gyges,  the  wealthy  and 


2/4  WOMAN 

powerful  king,  she  preferred  that  of  a  poor  Arcadian 
farmer  who  cultivated  his  plot  of  ground  in  peace  of  mind. 
By  pure  and  elevated  moral  teachings,  the  Pythia  in- 
structed the  bands  of  pilgrims  who  assembled  at  Delphi. 
Such  was  the  power  in  the  hands  of  a  woman.  Frail  and 
nervous,  she  yet  represented  a  religious  institution  the 
most  influential  in  the  pagan  world;  she  largely  deter- 
mined the  destiny  of  Greeks  and  barbarians  alike.  The 
wisdom  of  this  oracular  centre  is  generally  ascribed  in 
modern  times  to  the  college  of  priests  assembled  at  Del- 
phi, who  interpreted  the  responses  of  the  Pythia;  but, 
whatever  the  nature  of  the  mechanism  by  which  this 
oracle  retained  its  influence  for  centuries,  the  people  in 
general  had,  for  ages,  perfect  faith  that  the  responses  came 
directly  from  the  god  of  prophecy  through  his  inspired 
priestess.  It  is  undoubtedly  true  that  the  Greeks,  as  well 
as  the  Hindoos,  Gauls,  and  Germans,  attributed  to  woman 
the  gift  of  second-sight;  and  the  immaculate  life  which  the 
Pythia  was  required  to  lead  attests  the  fact  that  to  receive 
the  inspiration  of  the  god  of  light  there  were  needed  a 
purity  of  heart  and  a  devoutness  of  spirit  which  could  only 
be  found  in  a  woman.  Strange  to  say,  it  was  the  law  that 
no  woman  could  consult  this  oracle  of  Apollo,  whose  divine 
will  was  revealed  through  a  woman;  women  could,  how- 
ever, indirectly  receive  a  response  through  the  mediation 
of  a  man. 

The  Greeks  were  fond  of  the  pomp  and  splendor  of 
religious  festivals.  They  celebrated  such  festivals  when- 
ever occasion  offered,  and  during  their  continuance  all 
regular  occupations  ceased.  Plato  saw  in  the  prevailing 
custom  other  advantages  besides  the  purely  religious  effect. 
"The  gods,"  he  says,  "touched  with  compassion  for  the 
human  race,  which  nature  condemns  to  labor,  have  pro- 
vided for  intervals  of  repose  in  the  regular  succession  of 


GREEK  WOMAN  IN  RELIGION  275 

festivals  instituted  in  their  own  honor."  These  festivities 
were  not  only  a  feature  of  the  national  religion;  they  were 
the  schools  of  patriotism,  of  poetry,  and  of  art.  Each  city 
had  its  own  special  festivals,  and  there  were  also  those 
national  celebrations  in  which  all  people  joined.  Zeus  was 
the  national  deity  of  the  Greeks;  Olympia  was  his  most 
sacred  seat;  and  the  Olympian  festival  was  the  greatest 
event  in  Greece. 

In  the  district  of  Elis,  on  the  western  side  of  the  Pelo- 
ponnesus, the  river  Alpheus,  after  dashing  and  splash- 
ing down  the  mountains  of  Arcadia,  slackens  its  speed 
and  meanders  westwardly  through  the  valley  in  fantastic 
curves  and  windings.  Soon  it  meets  the  quiet  waters  of 
the  Cladeus  coming  from  the  north.  Between  the  two, 
and  not  far  from  their  confluence,  lie  the  wooded  slopes  of 
Mount  Cronion.  In  the  triangular  space  thus  formed  by 
the  rivers  and  the  mountain  is  situated  the  sacred  grove 
known  as  the  Altis,  the  hallowed  precinct  of  Olympian 
Zeus.  Here  was  his  temple,  and  not  far  from  it  the 
shrine  of  his  consort  Hera;  and  just  outside  the  sacred 
precinct  lay  the  racecourse,  where  were  celebrated  the 
Olympic  games  which  have  made  the  name  of  Olympia 
famous  throughout  the  world.  This  was  the  national 
centre  of  Greece,  where  citizens  from  all  parts  of  the 
Greek  world  assembled  to  join  in  friendly  contests  of 
physical  prowess  and  poetry  and  song.  The  situation 
was  indeed  a  beautiful  one.  Northward  and  westward 
were  the  mountain  peaks  of  Achasa  and  the  high  table- 
lands of  Arcadia;  southward,  the  rugged  mountain  chain 
of  Messene;  westward,  the  Ionian  sea.  The  well-watered 
valley,  bounded  by  undulating  hills,  was  covered  with 
luxuriant  vegetation.  The  pine  woods  of  Mount  Cronion, 
the  dense  grove  of  plane  trees  within  and  about  the  sacred 
precinct,  the  vine,  the  olive  and  the  myrtle  of  the  valley, 


276  WOMAN 

and  the  quiet  waters  of  the  sacred  streams,  were  elements 
that  constituted  a  landscape  of  indescribable  beauty,  re- 
nowned in  ancient  times  and  the  delight  of  modern 
travellers. 

The  festival  in  honor  of  Olympian  Zeus  recurred  every 
four  years,  at  the  time  of  the  full  moon  following  the 
summer  solstice.  Sacred  heralds  carried  to  all  parts  of 
the  Greek  world  the  official  message  announcing  the  fes- 
tival, and  a  sacred  truce  was  declared  for  a  sufficient 
length  of  time  to  allow  all  desirous  of  doing  so  to  attend 
the  gathering  and  to  return  home.  As  the  great  day 
approached,  men  and  youths,  matrons  and  maidens,  set 
out  to  take  part  in  or  to  witness  the  various  features  of 
the  festival.  Cities  sent  sacred  embassies,  or  theorice, 
resplendent  in  purple  and  gold,  bearing  offerings  to  the 
god.  Artists  and  poets,  merchants  and  manufacturers, 
found  in  this  gathering  of  the  Greeks  a  great  mart  in 
which  they  could  make  known  their  talents  or  their  wares 
and  receive  lucrative  orders,  the  former  for  a  statue  or  an 
ode,  the  latter  for  the  sale  of  their  merchandise.  Tents 
stood  in  rows  upon  the  plain,  and  everywhere  were  scenes 
of  busy  traffic  or  of  social  entertainment. 

We  are  not  concerned  here  with  the  various  exercises 
that  constituted  the  festival,  nor  with  the  games  which 
were  celebrated  in  the  stadium,  nor  with  the  horse  and 
chariot  races  in  the  hippodrome,  except  in  so  far  as  women 
were  participants;  and  their  part  was  but  slight.  When 
the  games  were  held,  a  priestess  of  Demeter  was  present, 
seated  on  an  altar  of  white  marble  opposite  the  umpires' 
seats,  but  she  was  the  only  woman  to  whom  this  privilege 
was  granted.  While  their  loved  ones  were  contending  in 
the  stadium,  mothers  and  wives  and  sisters  had  to  remain 
on  the  southern  bank  of  the  Alpheus.  Only  one  instance 
is  recounted  where  this  rule  was  broken.  "Pherenice, 


GREEK  WOMAN  IN  RELIGION  277 

daughter  of  a  celebrated  Rhodian  wrestler,  whose  family 
boasted  that  they  were  descended  from  Hercules,  could 
not  bear  to  leave  her  son  while  the  contest  was  going 
on,  and  disguising  herself  as  a  man,  and  pretending  to 
be  a  teacher  of  gymnastics,  she  mingled  with  the  groups 
of  gymnasts.  When  her  son  was  proclaimed  victor,  how- 
ever, her  feelings  carried  her  away,  and  forgetful  of  pru- 
dence she  rushed  to  embrace  her  child.  In  her  haste  her 
robes  became  disordered,  and  her  sex  was  revealed.  The 
law  was  explicit:  every  woman  found  within  the  sacred 
precinct  was  condemned  to  death.  Nevertheless,  the 
judges  acquitted  her,  in  recognition  of  the  fame  her  family 
had  won;  but  to  prevent  any  repetition  of  the  occurrence, 
the  masters,  as  well  as  their  pupils,  had  thenceforth  to 
present  themselves  naked." 

Women  could,  however,  run  their  horses  in  the  hippo- 
drome and  thus  win  a  prize,  as  was  done  by  Cynisca, 
daughter  of  Archidamnus,  King  of  Sparta,  who  was  the 
first  woman  that  bred  horses  and  gained  a  chariot  victory 
at  Olympia.  After  her,  other  women,  chiefly  Spartans, 
won  Olympic  victories,  but  none  of  them  attained  such 
fame  as  did  Cynisca.  So  honored  was  she  by  her  people 
that  a  shrine  was  erected  to  her  at  her  death;  there  was 
also  erected  at  Sparta  a  statue  of  the  maiden  Euryleon, 
who  won  an  Olympic  victory  with  a  two-horse  chariot. 

Though  excluded  from  the  games  at  the  great  festival 
of  Zeus,  there  were  yet  some  games  at  Olympia  in  which 
women  took  part.  These  were  a  feature  of  the  festival 
of  Hera,  whose  temple  was  also  in  the  Altis.  At  this 
festival,  sixteen  women,  duly  appointed,  wove  a  robe  for 
the  goddess  and  conducted  games  called  the  Hersea,  partici- 
pated in  by  the  maidens  of  Elis  and  surrounding  districts. 
Pausanias  thus  describes  the  spectacle:  "The  games  con- 
sist of  a  race  between  virgins.  The  virgins  are  not  all  of 


2/8  WOMAN 

the  same  age;  but  the  youngest  run  first,  the  next  in  age 
run  next,  and  the  eldest  virgins  run  last  of  all.  They  run 
thus:  their  hair  hangs  down,  they  wear  a  shirt  that  reaches 
to  a  little  above  the  knee,  the  right  shoulder  is  bare  to 
the  breast.  The  course  assigned  to  them  for  the  contest 
is  the  Olympic  stadium;  but  the  course  is  shortened  by 
about  one-sixth  of  the  stadium.  The  winners  receive 
crowns  of  olive  and  a  share  of  the  cow  which  is  sacrificed 
to  Hera;  moreover,  they  are  allowed  to  dedicate  statues  of 
themselves,  with  their  names  engraved  on  them." 

From  a  consideration  of  woman's  part  in  the  religious 
ceremonials  at  the  national  centres  of  Greece, — Delphi 
and  Olympia, — we  must  now  turn  to  Athens,  with  whose 
festive  calendar  we  are  much  better  acquainted.  The 
Athenians  were  rightly  characterized  by  the  Apostle  Paul  as 
being  very  religious.  In  all  parts  of  the  city  were  temples 
and  statues;  according  to  one  writer,  it  was  easier  to  find 
there  a  god  than  a  man.  More  than  eighty  days  out  of  each 
year  were  given  up  to  religious  festivities.  Pallas  Athena, 
daughter  of  Zeus,  was  the  patron  goddess  of  Athens,  and  the 
Acropolis  was  her  sacred  precinct;  but  other  deities  were 
worshipped,  even  on  the  Acropolis,  and  throughout  the 
city  there  were  shrines  to  numberless  gods  and  goddesses. 

From  earliest  times,  women  were  intimately  associated 
with  the  worship  of  Athena.  Varro  preserves  a  tradition 
which  records  that  it  was  women's  votes  that  determined 
the  choice  of  Athena  over  Poseidon  as  patron  deity  of 
Athens.  Originally,  women  took  part  in  the  public  coun- 
cils with  men  and  had  a  voice  therein,  and  when  the 
weighty  question  of  the  rivalry  of  the  two  divinities  came 
up  they  outvoted  the  men  by  a  majority  of  one  in  favor 
of  the  goddess.  Poseidon  was  angered,  and  submerged 
the  land  of  Attica.  To  appease  the  god,  the  citizens  de- 
prived the  women' of  the  right  to  vote  and  forbade  them  in 


GREEK  WOMAN  IN   RELIGION  279 

future  to  transmit  their  names  to  their  children  and  to  be 
called  Athenians.  But  though  their  political  rights  were 
thus  sadly  infringed  and  they  were  relegated  to  ignorance 
and  obscurity,  they  retained  their  part  in  the  exercises  of 
religion,  especially  in  the  worship  of  their  patron  goddess. 
Little  is  known  of  the  various  priestesses  of  Athena, 
who  figured  so  prominently  in  the  art  of  Athens  and  who 
presided  at  the  goddess's  temples  on  the  Acropolis.  It  was 
an  important  office  and  was  always  held  by  a  woman  of 
great  wisdom,  high  moral  character,  and  mature  years. 
Under  her  direction  were  the  maidens  of  the  city  who 
were  chosen  from  time  to  time  from  the  noblest  families  to 
take  part  in  the  festivals  of  the  goddess.  Pausanias  gives 
us  a  glimpse  of  the  duties  of  certain  of  these  maidens,  and 
we  could  wish  that  he  had  cleared  up  the  mystery  that 
surrounded  their  office.  "Two  maidens,"  said  he,  "dwell 
not  far  from  the  temple  of  the  Polias;  the  Athenians  call 
them  Arrephorse.  They  are  lodged  for  a  time  with  the 
goddess;  but  when  the  festival  comes  around,  they  per- 
form the  following  ceremony  by  night.  They  put  on 
their  heads  the  things  which  the  priestess  of  Athena  gives 
them  to  carry,  but  what  it  is  she  gives  is  known  neither 
to  her  who  gives  nor  to  them  who  carry.  Now,  there  is 
in  the  city  an  enclosure,  not  far  from  the  sanctuary  of 
Aphrodite,  called  Aphrodite  in  the  Gardens,  and  there  is  a 
natural  underground  descent  through  it.  Down  this  way 
the  maidens  go.  Below,  they  leave  their  burdens;  and 
getting  something  else  which  is  wrapped  up,  they  bring  it 
back.  These  maidens  are  then  discharged  and  others  are 
brought  to  the  Acropolis  in  their  stead."  Other  maidens 
resided  for  a  time  on  the  Acropolis,  engaged  in  weaving 
the  saffron-colored  peplus  which  was  to  be  presented  to  the 
goddess  at  the  Great  Panathen^a — the  most  brilliant  fes- 
tival of  the  Athenians.  This  was  the  highest  honor  that 


280  WOMAN 

» 

could  be  conferred  on  Athenian  maidens,  and  while  en- 
gaged in  this  work  they  shared  in  the  deference  shown 
the  goddess.  They  dwelt  with  the  great  priestess,  and 
were  under  her  immediate  direction  when  they  appeared 
in  public;  they  were  clad  in  tunics  of  white,  with  cloaks 
of  gold,  and  were  universally  recognized  as  votaries  of 
Athena.  It  has  been  conjectured  that  the  mysterious  bun- 
dles which  the  Arrephorse  carried  down  from  the  Acropolis 
contained  the  remnants  of  the  wool  which  had  served  to 
make  the  peplus  of  the  preceding  year,  and  that  they 
brought  back  the  material  destined  for  the  future  peplus; 
but  of  this  there  is  no  positive  evidence.  Certain  it  is, 
however,  that  the  garment  intended  for  the  goddess  was  a 
masterpiece  of  the  textile  art,  woven  of  the  finest  fabrics 
and  embroidered  in  gold  with  scenes  of  Athena  battling 
with  the  gods  against  the  giants,  and  of  such  other  inci- 
dents as  the  State  had  judged  worthy  to  figure  beside  her 
exploits.  Athena  was,  among  her  many  functions,  also 
the  goddess  of  weaving  and  other  feminine  arts,  and  as 
such  had  a  shrine  on  the  Acropolis,  where  she  was  wor- 
shipped under  the  title  of  Athena  Ergane.  Within  this 
precinct  were  statues  to  Lysippe,  Timostrata,  and  Aris- 
tomache,  maidens  thus  honored  because  of  their  skill  in 
womanly  occupations. 

For  the  origin  of  the  Panathenaea — the  greatest  of  Athe- 
nian festivals — we  must  go  back  to  the  heroic-  days  of 
Athens  when  King  Erechtheus  dedicated  on  the  Acropolis 
the  archaic  wooden  statue  of  Athena,  reputed  to  have 
fallen  from  heaven,  and  established  the  custom  of  offering 
to  the  image  once  a  year  a  new  mantle,  embroidered  by 
noble  maidens  of  the  city.  Later,  Theseus  united  the 
various  tribes  under  one  rule,  with  the  Acropolis  as  its 
centre.  A  festival  to  celebrate  this  event  was  united  with 
the  festival  to  Athena,  and  the  enlarged  festival  was 


GREEK  WOMAN   IN   RELIGION  281 

known  as  the  Panathensea,  symbolizing  the  union  and 
political  power  of  Athens  and  the  sovereignty  of  the  god- 
dess. Pisistratus  increased  the  splendor  of  this  festival, 
and,  in  the  golden  days  of  Athens  after  the  Persian  War, 
Pericles  added  to  its  pomp  and  magnificence.  He  erected 
on  the  Acropolis  an  imposing  temple  to  the  goddess,  the 
Parthenon,  and  placed  within  it  her  image  of  gold  and 
ivory.  The  worship  of  Athena  and  the  political  supremacy 
of  Athens  now  became  synonymous.  Her  festival  was  the 
highest  expression  of  the  ideals  of  Athens  in  its  greatest 
epoch.  The  greater  Panathenasa  was  Athens  in  its  glory, 
possessed  of  an  overflowing  treasury,  supreme  among 
the  States  of  Greece,  the  exponent  of  poetry  and  art  and 
beauty. 

There  was  great  rejoicing  when  the  sacred  peplus  was 
at  length  completed  by  the  maidens,  and  there  arrived  the 
season  of  the  festival,  which  was  to  culminate  on  Athena's 
birthday,  the  twenty-seventh  of  the  month  Boedromion, 
which  corresponded  nearly  to  our  September.  The  earlier 
days  were  spent  in  gymnastic  games,  horse  and  chariot 
races,  and  contests  in  music  and  poetry.  On  the  fifth 
and  last  day  occurred  the  most  brilliant  feature  of  the  en- 
tire festival,  the  solemn  procession  which  attended  the 
delivery  of  the  sacred  peplus  to  the  priestess  of  Athena 
that  she  might  place  it  around  the  wooden  image  of  the 
goddess.  So  important  was  this  procession  that  Phidias 
selected  it  as  the  theme  to  be  portrayed  on  the  frieze 
of  the  Parthenon.  The  procession  formed  in  the  Outer 
Ceramicus,  just  outside  the  principal  gate  of  the  city,  and 
the  peplus  was  placed  on  a  miniature  ship  (for  which  it 
served  as  a  sail),  which  was  set  on  wheels  and  drawn 
by  sailors.  Through  the  market  place,  round  the  western 
slope  of  the  Areopagus,  along  its  southern  side,  the  pro- 
cession wended  its  way  till  it  reached  the  western  approach 


282  WOMAN 

to  the  Acropolis.  Then  the  peplus  was  removed  from  the 
ship,  and,  borne  by  those  chosen  for  this  service,  it  was 
carried  at  the  head  of  the  procession  up  the  western  slope, 
through  the  Propylaea,  and  delivered  to  the  magistrate 
appointed  to  receive  it  before  the  temple  of  Athena.  The 
frieze  of  the  Parthenon  presents  the  most  important  de- 
tails of  the  procession.  Its  western  end  shows  the  stage 
of  preparation — the  flower  of  Athenian  youth  and  nobility 
preparing  to  mount  or  just  mounting  their  steeds  to  join 
in  the  cavalcade.  As  we  turn  to  the  northern  and  south- 
ern sides,  we  observe  that  the  procession  has  formed  and 
is  now  in  motion.  The  cavalcade  is  composed  of  youthful 
horsemen,  who  move  forward  in  compact  array,  with  all 
the  dash  and  spirit  of  youth.  Just  ahead  of  the  horse- 
men are  the  chariots,  driven  by  their  charioteers,  with 
the  warriors  either  standing  by  the  driver  or  just  step- 
ping into  the  moving  chariot.  As  the  eastern  end  of  the 
temple  is  approached,  restlessness  of  movement  gives 
place  to  solemnity,  and  impatient  riders  and  charioteers 
are  succeeded  by  more  stately  figures.  Elderly  men, 
bearers  of  olive  branches;  representatives  of  the  foreign 
residents,  carrying  trays  filled  with  offerings  of  cakes; 
attendants,  bearing  on  their  shoulders  vessels  filled  with 
the  sacred  wine;  musicians,  playing  on  flutes  or  lyres — 
march  in  slow,  measured  steps.  In  advance  of  them  are 
the  cows  and  sheep  led  to  sacrifice,  conducted  by  a  number 
of  attendants. 

The  frieze  on  the  eastern  end  of  the  temple  represents 
the  culmination  of  the  festival.  The  crowning  act  is 
about  to  be  performed,  and  the  solemnity  becomes  abso- 
lute. Figures  at  one  end  are  balanced  by  corresponding 
figures  at  the  other,  all  Advancing  toward  a  common  point. 
First  come  slowly  moving  maidens,  who  are  carrying  the 
sacrificial  utensils — their  noble  birth  manifesting  itself  in 


GREEK  WOMAN   IN  RELIGION  283 

their  dignity  of  demeanor.  The  five  maidens  in  the  rear 
bear  the  ewers  used  in  the  libations;  those  forming  the 
central  group  carry,  in  pairs,  large  objects  resembling 
candlesticks,  whose  uses  are  not  definitely  known;  while 
in  the  lead,  on  each  side,  are  two  maidens,  bearing  noth- 
ing in  their  hands — probably  the  Arrephorse,  whose  duties 
have  been  already  performed.  Both  in  costume  and  in 
coiffure  these  maidens  represent  what  was  characteristic 
of  their  age  and  sex  in  Athens  during  the  supremacy  of 
Pericles.  Next  comes  a  group  of  men,  probably  the  magis- 
trates appointed  to  await  the  arrival  of  the  procession  on 
the  Acropolis.  They  border  the  seated  divinities  who 
have  assembled  to  do  honor  to  Athens  at  its  greatest 
festival — seven  figures  on  each  side  of  the  central  slab, 
directly  over  the  door  of  the  temple,  whereon  is  repre- 
sented the  climax  of  the  solemn  occasion, — the  delivery  of 
the  new  peplus  to  the  priest  or  magistrate,  whose  office 
it  was  to  receive  it;  while  at  his  side  stands  the  priestess 
of  Athena,  receiving  from  two  attendants  certain  objects  of 
unknown  significance. 

Other  pieces  of  sculpture  on  the  Acropolis  magnify  the 
office  of  woman  in  the  religious  ceremonials  in  honor  of 
the  patron  goddess.  One  of  the  porticoes  of  the  Erec- 
theum  represents  maidens  of  dignified  mien  and  great 
beauty  holding  up  the  entablature  with  perfect  ease  and 
stately  grace.  These  figures  are  usually  called  Caryat- 
ides, a  name  applied  by  the  architect  Vitruvius  to  desig- 
nate figures  of  this  kind;  he  ascribes  its  origin  to  the 
destruction  of  the  town  of  Carya,  in  the  Peloponnesus, 
by  the  Athenians,  because  it  espoused  the  Persian  side, 
the  women  of  the  town  being  sold  into  slavery;  but 
surely  the  Athenians  would  not  have  so  honored  the  dis- 
graced women  of  a  hostile  city.  Could  they  not  por- 
tray, in  marble,  the  Arrephoric  maidens,  and  could  not 


284  WOMAN 

the  basket-like  burdens  on  their  heads  represent  the  bur- 
dens which  they  carried  down  from  the  Acropolis,  and 
those  which  they  received  instead?  The  Athenians,  in- 
deed, called  the  figures  merely  Komi,  or  "the  maidens." 
Furthermore,  excavations  at  Athens  made  in  1886 
brought  to  light  a  number  of  statues  of  maidens,  which 
now  adorn  one  of  the  rooms  of  the  Acropolis  Museum. 
They  are  all  of  one  type, — life-size  figures  of  young 
women,  all  standing  in  the  same  attitude,  with  one  arm 
extended  from  the  elbow,  while  the  other  hand  holds  the 
long  and  elegant  drapery  close  about  the  figure;  their  hair 
is  elaborately  arranged,  and  ringlets  fall  over  their  necks 
and  shoulders.  These  statues  are  relics  of  days  before  the 
Persian  War.  The  Persians  sacked  Athens  in  B.  C.  480,  and 
wrought  general  havoc  on  the  Acropolis,  burning  temples, 
throwing  down  columns,  demolishing  statues.  When  the 
Athenians,  flushed  with  victory,  returned  to  their  ruined 
homes,  they  regarded  as  unhallowed  all  that  had  been 
touched  by  the  hands  of  the  barbarian,  and  therefore,  in 
building  up  anew  the  Acropolis  as  the  sacred  precinct  of 
Athena,  they  extended  and  levelled  its  surface  and  filled 
in  the  hollows  thus  made  with  the  debris  of  the  Acrop- 
olis— architectural  blocks,  statues,  and  vessels;  and  these 
relics  of  pre-Persian  art  lay  thus  securely  buried  for  ages, 
to  be  revealed  to  modern  eyes  by  the  pickaxe  of  the 
archaeologist.  Now,  who  are  these  maidens,  standing  in 
conventional  pose,  with  regular  and  finely  moulded  fea- 
tures, and  with  richly  adorned  drapery  and  elaborate  head- 
dress? They  cannot  represent  priestesses  of  Athena, 
for  the  priestess  was  always  an  elderly  lady,  who,  after 
being  chosen,  held  office  for  the  rest  of  her  life.  Nor  can 
they  represent  the  goddess  herself,  for  all  her  usual  attri- 
butes— the  asgis,  the  spear,  the  helmet,  the  snake — are 
absent.  Hence  we  probably  have  in  these  statues  portraits 


GREEK  WOMAN  IN  RELIGION  285 

of  votaries  of  Athena,  young  women  of  the  aristocratic 
families  of  Athens,  who  placed  statues  of  themselves  in 
the  sacred  precinct  of  the  goddess  to  serve  as  symbols  of 
perpetual  homage. 

Finally,  certain  maidens  of  Athens  of  the  Heroic  Age 
were  later  deified  and  themselves  given  sacred  precincts 
on  the  Acropolis.  King  Cecrops  had  three  daughters — 
Aglauros,  Herse,  and  Pandrosus.  When  Erectheus,  the 
son  of  Earth  by  Hephaestus,  was  born,  half  of  his  form 
being  like  that  of  a  snake, — a  sign  of  his  origin, — the  child 
was  put  into  a  chest  by  Athena,  who  then  gave  it  to  the 
daughters  of  Cecrops  to  take  care  of,  at  the  same  time 
forbidding  them  to  open  it.  Aglauros  and  Herse  disobeyed, 
and,  in  terror  at  the  serpent-shaped  child,  went  mad  and 
threw  themselves  from  the  rock  of  the  Acropolis.  Pan- 
drosus, the  faithful  maiden,  was  rewarded  by  being  made 
the  first  priestess  of  Athena,  and  was  later  honored  by 
having  a  sanctuary  of  her  own,  next  to  that  of  the  god- 
dess; while  Aglauros  had  to  rest  content  with  a  cavern  on 
the  northern  slope  of  the  Acropolis,  near  where  she  had 
thrown  herself  down. 

The  celebrations  in  honor  of  Dionysus,  the  god  of  luxu- 
riant fertility  and  especially  of  the  grape,  were  exceed- 
ingly simple  at  first,  according  to  Plutarch,  being  merely 
"a  rustic  procession  carrying  a  vine-wreathed  jar  and  a 
basket  of  figs";  but  later  there  was  a  festival  at  every 
stage  in  the  growth  of  the  grape  and  in  the  making  of  the 
wine,  and  especially  at  the  approach  of  vintage  time,  and 
when  the  vintage  was  put  into  the  press.  There  were 
processions  and  rustic  dances,  and  all  the  usual  features 
of  the  carnival,  as  the  revellers  became  more  and  more 
under  the  influence  of  the  god.  In  these  revels,  women 
consecrated  to  this  divinity,  and  called  Bacchantes  or 
Maenads,  formed  a  special  group.  The  symbol  of  their 


286  WOMAN 

worship  was  a  thyrsus — a  pole  ending  with  a  bunch  of 
vine  or  ivy  leaves,  or  with  a  pine  cone  and  a  fillet.  At  in- 
tervals the  procession  would  stop,  and  one  of  the  revellers 
would  mount  a  wagon  or  a  platform  and  recount  to  those 
below,  disguised  as  Pans  and  Satyrs,  the  adventures  of 
the  god  of  wine  and  joy.  From  these  rustic  masquerades 
emerged  in  time  both  Tragedy  and  Comedy. 

Of  the  festivals  in  the  city,  the  Anthesteria,  or  Feast 
of  Flowers,  was  of  most  interest  to  the  fair  sex.  This 
festival  occurred  in  the  spring — when  the  preceding  year's 
wine  was  tasted  for  the  first  time — and  lasted  three  days. 
Its  principal  feature  was  the  Feast  of  Beakers,  which  began 
at  sunset  with  a  great  procession.  Those  who  took  part  in 
it  appeared,  wearing  wreaths  of  ivy  and  bearing  torches, 
in  the  Outer  Ceramicus.  This  festival  was  in  the  especial 
charge  of  the  king-archon,  and  the  wife  of  that  magistrate 
played  the  chief  r61e  in  the  ceremonies.  Maidens  and 
matrons  appeared,  disguised  as  Horse,  Nymphs,  or  Bac- 
chantes, and  crowded  round  the  triumphant  car  on  which 
the  ancient  image  of  Dionysus,  was  conveyed  to  the  town. 
At  a  certain  stage  in  the  procession,  the  king-archon's 
wife,  known  as  the  Basilissa,  was  given  a  seat  in  the  car, 
beside  the  image  of  Dionysus,  for  on  this  day  she  was  the 
symbolical  bride  of  the  god.  Thus,  on  this  joyous  wedding 
day,  the  nuptial  procession  conducted  the  car  to  the  temple 
of  the  god  in  Limnai. 

In  the  inmost  shrine  of  the  temple  a  mystic  sacrifice  for 
the  welfare  of  the  State  was  offered  by  the  Basilissa  and  the 
fourteen  ladies  of  honor  expressly  appointed  by  the  archon 
for  this  purpose.  After  the  sacrifice,  with  which  numer- 
ous secret  ceremonies  were  connected,  the  mystic  union 
of  Dionysus,  and  the  Basilissa  was  celebrated,  symboliz- 
ing the  sacred  marriage  of  the  god  with  his  much-loved 
city.  On  the  following  day,  among  other  ceremonies,  the 


GREEK  WOMAN  IN  RELIGION  287 

ladies  of  honor  offered  sacrifices  to  Dionysus,  on  various 
specially  erected  altars. 

These  were  joyous  occasions;  there  were,  however, 
sombre  Dionysia,  which  were  celebrated  by  night,  in  the 
winter  season,  when  the  god  was  thought  to  be  absent  or 
dead;  because  the  vine  was  then  withered  and  lifeless. 
Such  celebrations  commemorated  only  grief  and  regret.  At 
this  season,  women  of  Athens  left  their  homes  and  sought 
the  slopes  of  Mount  Parnassus,  to  join  the  women  of  Delphi 
in  savage  rites  celebrating  the  sufferings  of  Dionysus,  In 
these  Bacchantes,  religious  fervor  was  transformed  into 
the  wildest  delirium.  "With  dishevelled  hair  and  torn 
garments  they  ran  through  the  woods,  bearing  torches 
and  beating  cymbals,  with  savage  screams  and  violent 
gestures.  A  nervous  excitement  brought  distraction  to 
the  senses  and  to  the  mind,  and  showed  itself  in  wild  lan- 
guage and  gestures,  and  the  coarsest  excesses  were  acts 
of  devotion.  When  the  Maenads  danced  madly  through 
the  woods,  with  serpents  wreathed  about  their  arms,  or  a 
dagger  in  their  hands,  with  which  they  struck  at  those 
whom  they  met;  when  intoxication  and  the  sight  of  blood 
drove  the  excited  throng  to  frenzy — it  was  the  god  acting 
in  them,  and  consecrating  them  as  his  priestesses.  Woe 
to  the  man  who  should  come  upon  these  mysteries!  he 
was  torn  to  pieces;  even  animals  were  thus  killed,  and 
the  Maenads  devoured  their  quivering  flesh  and  drank 
their  warm  blood."  In  the  ardor  inspired  by  their  mad 
orgies,  these  votaries  did  not  distinguish  between  man  and 
beast,  and  a  mother  once  tore  to  pieces  her  son,  whom 
she  mistook  for  a  young  lion,  and  proudly  placed  on  the 
end  of  her  thyrsus  the  bleeding  head  of  her  offspring. 
Euripides,  in  his  Bacchanals,  has  drawn  a  sombre  picture 
of  the  excesses  into  which  the  wine  god  led  his  inspired 
followers.  Similar  orgies,  which  took  their  rise  in  Lydia, 


288  WOMAN 

were  held  on  the  summits  of  Taygetus  and  in  the  plains 
of  Macedon  and  Thrace. 

Though  certain  Attic  women,  under  the  frenzy  of  re- 
ligious enthusiasm,  would  join  the  Delphian  women  in 
their  wild  rites  of  Dionysus,  this  orgiastic  worship  was 
never  popular  at  Athens.  The  Athenian  ladies  much  pre- 
ferred the  worship  of  Demeter,  the  goddess  of  agriculture 
and  of  domestic  life. 

The  Thesmophoria,  the  festival  in  honor  of  Demeter 
and  her  daughter,  Persephone,  contrasted  greatly  with  the 
Panathenaea.  The  latter  was  public  and  was  participated 
in  by  all;  the  former  was  secret,  and  only  married  women 
could  take  part  in  it.  The  Panathenaea  celebrated  the 
political  and  intellectual  supremacy  of  the  State,  as  sym- 
bolized in  its  patron  goddess;  the  Thesmophoria  was  the 
festival  of  domestic  life,  held  in  honor  of  the  goddess  of 
virtuous  marriage  and  the  author  of  the  earth's  fertility. 

This  festival  was  celebrated  in  October,  at  the  period 
of  the  autumnal  sowing.  Every  citizen  of  Athens  who 
possessed  property  to  the  amount  of  three  talents  was 
compelled  to  furnish  his  wife  with  sufficient  money  to 
enable  her  to  celebrate  the  Thesmophoria;  this  was  the 
extent  of  male  participation.  For  many  days,  the  women 
had  to  prepare  themselves  for  the  solemn  rites  by  fasting, 
abstinence,  and  purifications;  two  of  their  number  were 
chosen  from  each  tribe  by  their  companions  to  prepare 
and  preside  over  the  various  features  of  the  celebration. 
On  the  first  day  of  the  Thesmophoria,  the  women  went 
to  the  primitive  seat  of  the  celebration  at  Halimus,  near 
the  promontory  of  Colias,  not  in  a  formal  procession,  but 
in  small  groups,  and  at  the  hour  of  nightfall.  The  comic 
side  of  the  Demeter  festivals  exhibited  itself  on  the  way, 
as  the  participants  recognized  each  other  with  jests  and 
raillery,  recalling  by  this  the  pleasantries  with  which  the 


GREEK  WOMAN  IN  RELIGION  289 

maiden  lambe  caused  Demeter  to  smile,  when  the  latter 
was  afflicted  with  melancholy  over  the  loss  of  her  daughter; 
and  woe  to  the  man  who  met  these  women!  for  he  became 
the  victim  of  the  most  scornful  mockery  and  sarcasm.  At 
Halimus,  in  the  sanctuary  of  Demeter,  the  mysteries  were 
celebrated  by  night;  the  following  day  was  spent  in  taking 
purifying  baths  in  the  sea  and  in  playing  and  dancing  on 
the  shore.  After  enjoying  their  freedom  here  for  a  day  or 
more,  the  women  set  out  in  a  long  procession  for  Athens, 
while  priestesses  bore  in  caskets  on  their  heads  the  Thesmai, 
or  the  laws  of  Demeter,  whence  the  festival  took  its  name. 

The  remainder  of  the  celebration  took  place  in  the  city, 
either  in  the  sanctuary  of  Demeter  or  on  the  Pnyx,  which 
was  on  this  occasion  exclusively  turned  over  to  the  women 
for  the  celebration.  The  first  day  after  their  return  was 
called  the  "day  of  fasting,"  for  during  the  whole  day  the 
women  sat  in  deep  mourning  on  the  ground  and  took  no 
food  whatsoever,  while  they  sang  dirges  and  observed 
other  customs  common  in  case  of  death;  they  also  sacri- 
ficed swine  to  the  infernal  deities.  The  rites  of  the  next 
day  were  of  a  more  general  character.  The  name  given 
the  day  was  "Calligenia,"  signifying  "bearer  of  a  fair 
offspring,"  and  on  this  day  they  offered  a  sacrifice  to  De- 
meter  and  prayed  her  to  give  to  women  the  blessing  of 
fair  children.  We  know  but  little  of  the  sacrifices,  dances, 
and  merry  games  which  occupied  this  final  day  of  the 
festival.  This  worship  of  Demeter  was  one  of  the  most 
elevating  influences  in  the  social  life  of  Athens;  and  the 
Thesmophoria  was  but  a  prelude  to  the  celebration  of 
the  Eleusinian  mysteries,  into  which  women  as  well  as 
men  were  initiated. 

The  ceremonies  at  Eleusis  seem  to  have  consisted  pri- 
marily in  a  dramatic  representation  of  the  beautiful  legend 
of  Demeter  and  Persephone,  from  which  many  moral 


2QO  WOMAN 

lessons  could  be  drawn.     Homer  has  preserved  to  us  this 
legend  in  the  Homeric  hymn  beginning: 

"I  begin  to  sing  fair-haired  Demeter,  a  hallowed  god- 
dess,— herself  and  her  slim-ankled  daughter  whom  Hades 
snatched  away  from  golden-sworded  Demeter,  renowned 
for  fruits,  as  the  maiden  sported  with  the  deep-bosomed 
daughters  of  Oceanus,  culling  flowers  through  the  soft 
meadow — roses  and  crocuses  and  beautiful  violets,  hya- 
cinths, the  iris  and  the  narcissus,  which  Earth,  at  the 
command  of  Zeus,  favoring  the  All-Receiver  [Hades], 
brought  forth  as  a  snare  to  the  maiden.  From  its  root  an 
hundred  heads  sprung  forth,  and  the  whole  wide  heaven 
above  was  scented  with  its  fragrance,  and  the  whole  earth 
laughed,  and  the  briny  wave  of  the  sea.  And  the  girl 
stretched  out  both  her  hands  to  seize  the  pretty  plaything, 
when  the  wide-winged  earth  yawned  in  the  Mysian  plain 
where  the  all-receiving  king,  the  many-named  son  of  Cro- 
nus, leaped  forth  with  his  immortal  steeds  and  snatched  her 
away,  unwilling,  in  his  golden  chariot,  weeping  and  shriek- 
ing aloud,  calling  upon  her  father,  the  son  of  Cronus." 

The  hymn  then  recounts  how  the  goddess-mother  roamed 
for  nine  days  over  the  earth,  seeking  her  lost  daughter,  till 
on  the  tenth  she  learned  the  truth  from  the  all-seeing  Sun. 
Angered  at  Zeus  for  permitting  the  violence,  she  wandered 
about  among  men  in  the  form  of  an  old  woman,  till  at 
length,  at  Eleusis,  in  Attica,  she  was  kindly  received 
at  the  house  of  King  Celeus,  and  acted  as  nurse  for  his 
newborn  son,  Demophon.  She  would  have  made  the  lad 
immortal  by  giving  him  a  bath  of  fire;  but  being  surprised 
and  prevented  by  the  mother,  she  revealed  her  deity,  and 
caused  to  be  erected  in  her  honor  a  temple,  in  which  she 
gave  herself  up  to  her  sorrow.  In  anger,  she  made  the 
earth  barren,  and  would  not  allow  the  crops  to  spring  up 
again  until  her  daughter  was  allowed  to  spend  two-thirds 


GREEK  WOMAN   IN   RELIGION  291 

of  the  year  with  her  mother  among  the  Immortals,  de- 
voting the  remaining  third  to  her  gloomy  spouse  in  the 
realms  of  Hades.  Upon  her  return  to  Olympus,  Demeter 
left  the  gift  of  corn,  of  agriculture,  and  of  her  holy  mys- 
teries, with  her  host,  and  sent  Triptolemus  the  Eleusinian 
about  the  earth  to  make  known  to  men  the  knowledge  of 
agriculture,  of  civil  order,  and  of  holy  wedlock.  Thus  the 
worship  of  Demeter,  as  the  founder  of  law  and  order  and 
marriage,  became  prevalent,  and  exerted  a  most  helpful 
influence  throughout  Hellas. 

The  mysteries  of  Eleusis  inculcated  the  moral  lessons 
which  would  promote  right  living  among  the  people.  They 
were  in  charge  of  a  priesthood  consisting  of  both  men  and 
women.  The  chief  priest,  the  hierophant,  was  a  man  of 
irreproachable  character,  and  held  the  office  for  life  on 
condition  of  celibacy.  The  priestesses  had  in  charge  espe- 
cially the  initiation  of  the  women,  but  their  duties  were 
not  restricted  to  this. 

The  candidates  for  initiation,  the  Mystai,  had  to  spend 
a  year  in  preparation.  Homicides,  courtesans,  barbarians, 
all  who  had  any  stain  upon  their  lives,  were  excluded  from 
these  rites;  only  Hellenes  "  of  pure  soul  and  pure  hands  " 
were  eligible  for  initiation.  On  the  days  preceding  the 
festival,  expiatory  ceremonies  were  performed,  of  which 
the  most  notable  was  one  in  which  a  girl  or  boy,  styled 
"the  child  of  the  hearth,"  performed  certain  rites  of  puri- 
fication for  those  who  were  desirous  of  being  admitted  into 
the  mysteries.  Finally,  on  the  twentieth  day  of  the  month 
Boedromion,  corresponding  nearly  to  our  September,  the 
great  procession  set  forth  from  Athens  for  Eleusis,  along 
the  Sacred  Way.  In  this  procession  the  women  took  part 
in  great  numbers,  and  it  afforded  excellent  opportunities 
for  the  display  of  beautiful  toilettes.  Aristocratic  ladies 
were  usually  driven  in  chariots.  As  the  crowd  of  pilgrims 


2Q2  WOMAN 

passed  over  the  Cephissus  Bridge,  there  was,  as  in  the 
Thesmophoria,  much  banter  and  raillery  in  memory  of 
the  manner  in  which  the  goddess  was  once  diverted  from 
her  grief;  and  all  along  the  road  there  were  stations  for 
sacrifices  and  oblations,  where  the  maidens  engaged  in 
singing  and  graceful  dances.  Eleusis  was  finally  reached 
at  night  by  torchlight,  and  the  following  days  were  spent 
by  the  initiated  in  their  religious  duties  and  by  the  candi- 
dates in  further  preparation. 

We  have  unfortunately  but  meagre  glimpses  into  the 
Eleusinian  mysteries,  and  cannot  follow  the  order  of  cere- 
monies. Suffice  it  to  say  that,  besides  promoting  good 
living  and  happiness  in  this  life,  they  gave  hope  for  the  life 
to  come.  "  The  man  purified  by  initiation,"  says  Pindar, 
"has  understood  before  his  death  the  beginning  and  end 
of  life,  and  after  death  dwells  with  the  gods." 

In  Polygnotus's  famous  painting  of  the  infernal  regions, 
in  the  Lesche  at  Delphi,  two  women  were  represented 
trying  to  carry  water  in  jars  that  have  no  bottoms;  an 
inscription  states  that  they  were  never  initiated,  and  the 
moral  was  "  that  without  initiation  life  is  altogether  wasted 
and  lost."  In  the  worship  of  Demeter  and  in  the  Eleu- 
sinian mysteries  there  was  everything  to  appeal  to  woman 
— the  sanctity  of  marriage,  deified  motherhood,  exaltation 
of  the  home  and  of  domestic  duties — and  the  zeal  mani- 
fested by  Athenian  women  in  these  religious  rites  doubt- 
less promoted  a  feminine  piety  and  a  natural  devoutness 
which  ennobled  the  Athenian  home  and  softened  parental 
discipline. 

The  Thesmophoria  was  the  festival  of  the  married 
women;  but  young  girls  and  even  children  had  their  fes- 
tivals in  the  Brauronia  and  the  Artemisia,  celebrated  in 
honor  of  Artemis,  the  special  patron  of  virgins.  The 
Brauronia  was  celebrated  every  fifth  year,  in  the  little 


GREEK  WOMAN  IN  RELIGION  293 

town  of  Brauron.  Chosen  Athenian  maidens  between 
the  ages  of  five  and  ten  years,  dressed  in  saffron-colored 
garments,  went  in  solemn  procession  to  the  sanctuary  of 
the  goddess,  where  they  performed  a  propitiatory  rite,  in 
which  they  imitated  bears,  an  animal  sacred  to  Artemis. 
Every  maiden  of  Athens,  before  she  could  marry,  must 
have  once  taken  part  in  this  festival  and  consecrated  her- 
self to  the  goddess.  There  was  also  a  precinct  of  Artemis 
Brauronia  on  the  Acropolis,  and  doubtless  this  ceremony 
was  also  performed  there.  Almost  everywhere  this  virgin 
goddess  was  revered  by  young  girls  as  the  guardian  of 
their  maiden  years,  and  before  marriage  it  was  the  custom 
that  the  bride  should  dedicate  to  Artemis  a  lock  of  her 
hair,  her  girdle,  and  her  maiden  tunic. 

Maidens  also  took  part  in  the  worship  of  the  twin 
brother  of  Artemis,  Apollo,  in  the  island  of  Delos,  which 
was  the  birthplace  of  the  god  and  goddess.  The  celebra- 
tion was  a  festival  of  youth  and  beauty,  of  poetry  and 
art.  Aristocratic  maidens  of  Athens  joined  with  those  of 
the  seat  of  the  Delphian  confederacy  over  which  Athens 
presided  in  making  the  occasion  emphasize  the  power  and 
splendor  of  Athens  in  the  height  of  its  greatness. 

"  Once  every  five  years,  in  the  spring,  a  solemn  festi- 
val recalled  the  anniversary  of  the  birth  of  the  god.  The 
maidens  of  Delos,  wearing  their  richest  attire,  and  crowned 
with  flowers,  united  in  joyous  chorus  around  the  altar, 
and  represented  in  sacred  dances  the  story  of  the  birth 
of  Apollo.  Others,  with  garlands  of  flowers  in  their  hands, 
went  to  hang  them  on  the  ancient  statue  of  the  goddess, 
which  Theseus  had,  according  to  tradition,  brought  from 
Crete  to  Delos.  From  all  parts  of  Greece,  from  the 
islands,  and  from  Asia,  solemn  embassies,  sacred  theorice, 
landed  in  the  harbor.  The  most  brilliant  was  that  of  the 
Athenians,  who  were  long  the  suzerains  of  the  island. 


294  WOMAN    . 

Each  year,  a  State  vessel,  the  Paralian  galley,  conveyed 
the  sacred  embassy  to  Delos;  the  crew  was  composed  of 
free  men,  the  vessel  decked  with  flowers.  At  the  mo- 
ment of  its  departure,  the  whole  town  was  purified;  the 
priests  of  Apollo  bestowed  on  the  galley  a  solemn  bene- 
diction, and  the  law  forbade  that  the  purified  town  should 
be  defiled  by  any  sentence  of  death  until  the  return  of  the 
vessel.  The  members  of  the  embassy  were  chosen  from 
the  chief  families  of  the  city,  and  they  were  accompanied 
by  a  chorus  of  young  men  and  maidens,  who  were  to  chant 
the  sacred  hymns  in  honor  of  Apollo  and  perform  around  the 
altar  of  the  Horns,  one  of  the  marvels  of  Delos  and  of 
the  world,  an  ancient  and  solemn  dance — the  geranos.  The 
day  of  the  arrival  of  these  theories  was  a  festival  in  Delos. 
Amid  the  acclamations  of  an  enthusiastic  crowd,  the  em- 
bassy disembarked  in  the  harbor;  and  such  was  the  joy 
and  impatience  of  the  people,  that  sometimes  its  members 
had  not  even  time  to  don  their  robes  of  ceremony  and  to 
crown  themselves  with  flowers.  Over  the  bridge  wound 
the  sacred  procession  of  the  Athenians,  with  its  splendidly 
dressed  musicians,  its  chorus  chanting  the  sacred  hymns, 
its  rich  offerings  destined  for  the  god;  received  at  the  end 
of  the  bridge  by  the  official  charged  with  the  reception  of 
these  pious  embassies,  it  pursued  its  way  to  the  temple, 
there  to  present  its  offerings  and  prayers,  and  to  pour  out 
on  the  altar  the  blood  of  its  hecatombs.  During  the  rest  of 
the  day,  feasts  were  provided  for  the  people,  and  games 
and  contests  filled  the  island  with  the  sounds  of  rejoicing." 

After  the  celebration,  the  Paralia  returned  to  Athens, 
bearing  homeward  the  beautiful  maidens  who  had  done 
honor  to  the  god  and  had  added  to  the  glory  of  their 
native  city. 

Aphrodite,  the  goddess  of  beauty  and  of  pleasure,  also 
had  her  festivals  in  which  women  took  part.  Certain  of 


GREEK  WOMAN   IN   RELIGION  295 

these  were  of  a  lascivious  character  and  were  celebrated 
chiefly  by  the  demi-monde;  they  were  held  especially  at 
the  temple  of  Aphrodite  Pandemus  on  the  promontory  of 
Colias.  But  the  ladies  of  Athens  took  part  in  the  Adonia, 
in  honor  of  Adonis,  beloved  of  Aphrodite.  The  ceremo- 
nies of  the  first  day  were  of  a  mournful  character,  as  they 
commemorated  the  death  of  Adonis;  but  the  second  day 
was  one  of  rejoicing  and  entertainment,  as  Adonis  was 
conceived  of  as  returning  to  life  to  spend  six  months  with 
Aphrodite.  In  his  death  and  resurrection  the  changes  of 
the  seasons  were  poetically  symbolized.  Women  of  the 
leading  families  were  expected  to  participate  in  the  mag- 
nificent solemnities,  which  took  place  at  the  summer  sol- 
stice. A  long  procession  of  priests  and  of  maidens  acting 
as  canephoree,  bearing  vases  for  libations,  baskets,  per- 
fumes, and  flowers,  approached  a  colossal  catafalque,  over 
which  were  spread  beautiful  purple  coverlets.  On  these 
lay  a  statue  of  Adonis,  p?le  in  death,  but  still  beautiful. 
Over  this  mournful  figure  a  beautiful  woman  gave  expres- 
sion in  every  way  to  the  most  bitter  grief  and  sang  a 
hymn  to  Adonis,  telling  his  sad  story.  The  women  round 
about  were  clad  in  mourning  and  celebrated  the  plaintive 
funeral  dance;  while  on  all  sides  was  heard  the  mournful 
cry:  "Alas!  alas!  Adonis  is  dead!" 

The  hymn  or  psalm  to  Adonis  was  a  distinguished  and 
most  popular  feature  of  the  celebration  of  the  Adonia; 
Theocritus,  in  Idyl  XV.,  gives  its  rendering  on  the  occa- 
sion when  Arsinoe,  queen  of  Ptolemy  Philadelphus,  deco- 
rated the  image  of  Adonis.  In  a  later  chapter  of  the 
present  volume, — that  on  The  Alexandrian  Woman, — an 
English  version  of  this  psalm  is  given,  into  which  the 
spirit  of  the  original  is  most  aptly  infused;  and  in  con- 
nection therewith  is  a  lively  and  forceful  picture  of  the 
attitude  and  manners  of  the  ladies  of  the  day. 


anil  tip 


XIII 
GREEK  WOMEN  AND  THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION 

IT  is  by  no  means  a  matter  of  surprise  that  among  a 
people  so  highly  cultured  as  the  Greeks  there  should  be 
women  of  the  highest  intellectual  attainments.  Sappho 
has  already  furnished  us  an  example,  and  her  ascendency 
over  her  pupils  was  such  as  to  start  a  train  of  influences 
that  stimulated  her  sex  in  every  part  of  Hellas  to  engage 
in  the  study  and  composition  of  poetry. 

Furthermore,  among  the  famous  men  of  Hellas  there 
were,  from  time  to  time,  ardent  advocates  of  the  higher 
education  of  women.  As  early  as  the  seventh  century 
before  the  Christian  era,  Cleobulus,  one  of  the  seven 
sages  of  Greece,  insisted  that  maidens  should  have  the 
same  intellectual  training  as  youths,  and  illustrated  his  doc- 
trine in  the  careful  education  of  his  daughter,  Cleobuline, 
who  became  a  poetess  of  wide  renown. 

Pythagoras,  who  in  the  sixth  century  founded  his  cele- 
brated philosophical  sect  in  Southern  Italy,  fully  recog- 
nized the  equality  of  the  sexes  and  devised  a  system  of 
education  for  women,  which  made  his  feminine  followers 
not  only  most  efficient  in  all  domestic  relations,  but  also 
preeminent  in  philosophical  and  literary  culture.  Plato 
spent  considerable  time  in  Magna  Grascia,  and  became  im- 
bued with  the  spirit  of  Pythagorean  philosophy.  He  must 
have  been  impressed  with  its  elevating  influence  on  the 

299 


300  WOMAN 

status  of  woman,  for  in  his  Dialogues  he  urged  that  women 
should  receive  the  same  education  as  men,  and  he  himself 
admitted  members  of  the  gentler  sex  to  the  lectures  of  the 
Academy. 

After  Plato's  time,  accordingly,  we  find  many  women 
engaged  in  the  study  of  philosophy,  not  only  among  the 
Academicians,  but  also  in  the  other  philosophical  schools, 
especially  the  Cyrenaic,  the  Megarian,  and  the  Epicurean. 
The  Peripatetic  and  the  Stoic  doctrines  seem  not  to  have 
appealed  to  the  fair  sex. 

Alexander's  empire,  in  overthrowing  the  exclusive  State 
laws  of  the  various  cities,  accomplished  much  for  the  eman- 
cipation of  women,  and  from  that  time  forward  we  find 
women  engaged  in  almost  all  the  branches  of  the  higher 
learning.  In  Alexandria,  especially,  the  daughters  of 
scholars  pursued  studies  in  philosophy,  in  philology,  and  in 
archaeology,  and  some  of  them  became  celebrated.  In  the 
Grasco-Roman  period,  Plutarch  was  a  constant  advocate 
of  female  education,  and  the  circle  of  learned  women  that 
he  has  made  known  to  us  indicates  how  general  was  the 
spread  of  education  among  the  women  of  his  day. 

Aspasia  had  set  the  fashion  for  hetserag  in  Athens  to 
devote  attention  to  rhetoric  and  philosophy;  consequently, 
many  of  the  blue-stockings  of  Greece  belonged  to  the 
hetasra  class.  Some  acquaintance  with  the  higher  learn- 
ing, however,  became  fashionable  also  in  the  retirement 
of  the  gynaeceum,  and  many  maidens  and  matrons  of  hon- 
orable station  employed  their  leisure  moments  in  read- 
ing the  works  of  philosophers  and  poets,  and  received,  if 
not  public,  at  least  private  instruction  from  professional 
lecturers. 

The  variety  of  intellectual  pursuits  among  the  women 
was  marked.  Poetry  was  their  natural  field,  and  philoso- 
phy appealed  to  them  as  being  the  most  learned  vocation 


GREEK  WOMEN  AND  THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION       301 

of  the  times.  Even  in  the  Heroic  Age,  women  were  skilled 
in  the  uses  of  plants  for  purposes  of  witchcraft  and  of 
healing;  and  in  historic  times,  when  medicine  became 
a  science,  women  engaged  in  various  medical  pursuits. 
Similar  tastes  led  many  also  to  follow  the  different 
branches  of  natural  science,  and  in  Alexandrian  times, 
when  philology  was  the  prevailing  study,  history  and 
grammar  and  literary  criticism  became  favorite  studies 
with  the  daughters  of  the  learned. 

In  a  previous  chapter,  we  have  described  the  Lesbian 
Sappho's  seminary  of  the  Muses,  to  which  maidens  flocked 
from  all  Hellenic  lands  for  the  study  of  poetry  and  art. 
The  natural  beauties  of  the  isle  of  Lesbos,  the  luxurious 
life  of  the  aristocratic  classes,  the  brilliancy  and  zeal  of 
Sappho  herself,  and  her  ardent  affection  for  her  girl  friends, 
were  influences  favorable  to  the  pursuits  of  the  Muses 
and  the  Graces. 

It  is  not  surprising  that,  amid  such  surroundings  and 
with  such  a  teacher,  women  should  acquire  a  love  of 
poetry  and  of  all  that  appeals  to  the  aesthetic  nature. 
There  is  a  vague  tradition  that  there  were  seventy-six 
women  poets  among  the  Ancient  Greeks.  Unfortunately, 
the  names  of  but  few  of  these  are  preserved  to  us.  We 
have  authentic  information  concerning  only  the  nine  most 
distinguished  poetesses,  to  whom  the  Greeks  gave  the 
title  of  the  Terrestrial  Muses. 

The  second  of  the  nine  Terrestrial  Muses — for  Sappho 
was,  of  course,  the  first — was  the  poetess's  favorite  and 
most  promising  pupil,  Erinna  of  the  isle  of  Telos.  She 
aroused  among  Greek  poets  a  most  respectful  and  tender 
sentiment,  and  they  frequently  sounded  her  praises.  Her 
most  noted  production  was  a  poem  called  The  Distaff,  and 
the  poets  compared  it  to  the  honeycomb,  which  the  gra- 
cious bee  had  gathered  from  the  flowers  of  Helicon;  they 


302  WOMAN 

perceived  in  this  production  of  a  maiden  the  freshness  and 
perfume  of  spring,  and  they  likened  her  delicate  notes  to 
the  sweet  voice  of  a  swan  as  he  sings  his  death  song — a 
comparison  only  too  just,  for  she  died  at  the  tender  age 
of  nineteen  years.  A  poet  of  the  Anthology  thus  laments 
her  untimely  taking-off: 

"  These  are  Erinna's  songs :  how  sweet,  though  slight  I 
For  she  was  but  a  girl  of  nineteen  years  :— 
Yet  stronger  far  than  what  most  men  can  write : 
Had  death  delayed,  what  fame  had  equalled  hers  ?  " 

The  names  of  the  next  two  of  the  Terrestrial  Nine  are 
closely  associated  with  that  of  Pindar  of  Thebes, — Myrtis 
and  Corinna,  the  one  the  instructor,  the  other  the  rival,  of 
the  great  composer.  Myrtis  was  the  eldest  of  the  three, 
and  probably  gave  instruction  to  her  younger  contempo- 
raries. She  later  entered  the  lists  in  a  poetic  contest  with 
Pindar,  and  for  this  she  was  censured  by  Corinna.  The 
younger  woman,  who  defeated  Pindar  five  times  in  poetic 
contests,  gave  her  rival  some  good  advice,  by  which  he 
profited  in  his  later  productions.  She  reproached  him  for 
devoting  too  much  attention  to  the  form  and  neglecting 
the  soul  of  the  poem.  When,  following  her  counsel, 
Pindar  brought  to  her  a  poem  abounding  in  mythological 
allusions,  Corinna  smiled,  and  remarked  to  him  that  in 
future  he  should  "sow  by  the  handful,  not  with  the 
whole  sack." 

Pausanias  saw  the  tomb  of  Corinna  in  a  conspicuous 
part  of  her  native  town  of  Tanagra;  and  also  a  picture 
of  her  in  the  gymnasium,  representing  her  binding  a  fillet 
about  her  head  in  honor  of  the  victory  she  had  gained 
over  Pindar  at  Thebes.  But  he  ungallantly  ascribes  her 
victory  partly  to  her  dialect — for  she  composed  not  in 
Doric,  like  Pindar,  but  in  a  dialect  which  >£olians  would 


GREEK  WOMEN  AND  THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION       303 

understand — and  partly  to  her  beauty;  for,  judging  from 
her  portrait,  she  was  the  fairest  woman  of  her  time. 

Telesilla  of  Argos  was  not  only  a  poet,  but  an  antique 
Joan  of  Arc  as  well.  Being  of  feeble  constitution,  she 
was  told  by  the  oracle  to  devote  herself  to  the  service  of 
the  Muses,  and  in  this  salutary  mental  exercise  she  found 
health  and  preeminence  among  her  fellows.  Famous 
hymns  to  Apollo  and  to  Artemis  were  composed  by  her. 
Her  love  of  beauty  also  inspired  her  with  noble  ideals  of 
patriotism  and  self-sacrifice,  and  in  the  crisis  of  the  war 
between  her  native  town  and  Sparta  she  armed  her 
countrywomen  and  led  them  forth  to  victory  against  the 
enemy.  As  a  memorial  of  this  noble  action,  her  statue 
was  erected  in  the  temple  of  Aphrodite  at  Argos. 

Praxilla  of  Sicyon  was  placed  by  ancient  critics  by  the 
side  of  Anacreon  for  the  softness  and  delicacy  of  her 
verses,  and  she  was  honored  in  her  native  city  with  a 
statue  from  the  hand  of  Lysippus.  She  sang  beautiful 
songs  of  Aphrodite  and  retold  in  passionate  verse  the 
legend  of  Adonis. 

The  next  name  on  this  immortal  list  takes  us  to  Locris, 
in  Italy,  and  down  to  the  fourth  century  before  Christ. 
Like  Sappho,  Nossis  "of  womanly  accents"  is  a  love 
poetess,  and  twelve  epigrams  attributed  to  her  are  found 
in  the  Anthology.  Her  poetry  was  symbolized  by  the 
fleur-de-lis  with  its  penetrating  perfume.  In  praising 
the  portrait  of  her  child  she  sees  the  reflection  of  her  own 
beauty,  and  in  the  epitaph  which  she  composed  for  her 
tomb  she  declares  herself  equal  to  Sappho;  hence  hu- 
mility cannot  be  classed  among  the  many  virtues  which 
caused  her  to  be  adored  by  her  contemporaries. 

The  little  poems  of  Anyte  of  Tegea  and  Moero  of  Byzan- 
tium, the  last  two  of  the  Terrestrial  Nine,  are  often  sym- 
bolized by  the  lilies  for  their  purity  and  delicacy.  These 


304  WOMAN 

poets  flourished  in  the  third  century  of  our  era.  Antipater 
surnames  Anyte  "a  feminine  Homer";  rather  should  she 
be  called  "  a  feminine  Simonides,"  though  even  this  is  too 
high  praise.  Her  soul  was  simple  and  pure,  and  her 
sweet  sentiments  are  reflected  in  a  style  as  limpid  as  a 
running  stream.  Charm  and  freshness  characterize  her 
invitation  to  some  passer-by  to  repose  under  the  trees  and 
taste  of  the  cool  water;  deep  and  melancholy  emotions 
pervade  the  poem  in  which  she  bewails  the  death  of  a 
young  maiden;  and  a  masculine  philosophy  of  life  is  mani- 
fest in  the  epitaph  of  a  slave  whom  death  has  made  equal 
with  the  Great  King.  Moero's  range  was  not  so  great,  nor 
her  touch  so  delicate.  A  heroic  poem,  Mnemosyne,  was 
the  most  ambitious  of  her  works;  she  also  composed 
elegies  and  epigrams,  and  two  of  the  latter  have  been  pre- 
served to  us,  revealing  a  soul  sensitive  to  natural  beauty. 

Here  and  there,  other  names  and  occasional  verses  of 
Greek  poetesses  are  found — Cleobuline  of  Rhodes,  Megalo- 
strata  and  Clitagora,  of  Sparta,  and  others;  but  they  did 
not  attain  the  fame  of  the  Terrestrial  Muses. 

As  the  verses  of  the  Greek  women  were  to  be  sung 
to  the  accompaniment  of  the  lyre,  the  daughters  of  the 
Muses  were  as  celebrated  in  music  as  they  were  in  poetry. 
Nor  were  the  maidens  of  Greece  without  distinction  in 
other  arts.  It  is  in  part  to  a  Corinthian  maiden  that 
legend  ascribes  the  invention  of  modelling  in  clay.  Cora, 
daughter  of  Butades,  is  about  to  say  farewell — perhaps 
forever — to  her  lover,  who  is  going  on  a  long  journey. 
The  light  of  a  lamp  throws  his  shadow  on  the  wall,  and, 
to  preserve  at  least  this  image  of  him,  she  deftly  sketches 
the  outline  of  the  shadow.  Her  father,  with  the  instinct 
of  an  artist,  observes  the  outline  and  fills  it  in  with  potter's 
clay,  and  then  bakes  the  model  which  he  has  obtained. 
There  are  no  names  recorded  of  Greek  women  who  were 


GREEK  WOMEN  AND  THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION      305 

sculptors,  but  doubtless  in  the  studio  of  many  an  artist  a 
daughter  delighted  in  assisting  him  at  his  work. 

Many  Greek  women  distinguished  themselves  in  paint- 
ing. Timarete,  the  daughter  of  Micon,  produced  an  image 
of  Artemis,  which  was  long  to  be  seen  at  Ephesus;  it 
was  one  of  the  most  ancient  monuments  of  this  art,  and 
the  goddess  was  probably  represented  under  a  strange 
and  symbolic  form,  such  as  she  had  in  her  sanctuary  in 
Ephesus.  Eleusis  possessed  a  painting  made  by  Irene, 
daughter  of  Cratinus,  representing  the  figure  of  a  young 
girl,  perhaps  a  priestess  initiated  into  the  mysteries  of  the 
great  goddesses.  Calypso,  Alcisthene,  Aristarete,  and 
Olympias  are  the  names  of  other  female  painters,  whose 
memories  at  least  have  been  preserved. 

The  most  celebrated  of  all,  however,  was  Lalla,  a  native 
of  the  city  of  Cyzicus,  to  which  Apollo  had  accorded  the 
gift  of  arts.  Though  she  worked  with  extreme  rapidity, 
this  did  not  detract  from  the  merits  of  her  work,  and  she 
was  considered  the  first  painter  of  her  time.  Painting  with 
pencil  and  on  ivory  were  equally  familiar  to  her.  The 
portraits  which  she  painted  were  principally  of  persons  of 
her  own  sex.  Pliny  mentions  a  portrait,  which  was  at 
Naples  during  his  life,  in  which  Lalla  had  represented  an 
old  woman.  He  adds  that  she  had  reproduced  in  this  her 
own  picture  reflected  in  a  mirror.  There  has  been  found 
at  Pompeii  a  painting  of  an  artist  which  is  believed  to  be 
a  portrait  of  Lalla,  probably  painted  by  herself.  It  repre- 
sents a  young  woman  seated  on  a  stool  on  a  little  porch, 
with  her  eyes  fixed  on  a  statue  of  Bacchus,  which  she  is 
reproducing  on  a  tablet  held  by  a  child.  In  her  right  hand 
is  a  pencil,  which  she  plunges  into  a  small  box  evidently 
containing  her  colors;  in  her  left  hand  she  holds  a  palette. 
Her  garments  are  elegantly  draped  around  her;  a  band 
encircles  her  waving  hair,  which  falls  over  her  neck  and 


306  WOMAN 

shoulders.  A  deep,  intellectual  look  illuminates  her  deli- 
cate features.  If  this  be  really  a  picture  of  Lalla,  she  was 
wonderfully  beautiful. 

Not  only  in  poetry  and  the  fine  arts,  but  also  in  phi- 
losophy and  intellectual  pursuits  did  the  Greek  woman 
show  herself  capable  of  great  achievements.  In  the 
schools  of  Pythagoras,  established  at  Croton  in  Magna 
Grascia,  women  were  freely  admitted  and  took  a  promi- 
nent part  in  the  exercises,  together  with  their  husbands 
and  brothers. 

There  is  a  tradition  that  the  ascendency  of  Pythagoras 
at  Croton  was  so  great  that  the  ladies  of  the  city  brought 
their  rich  apparel,  their  jewels,  necklaces  and  bracelets, 
to  the  temple  of  Hera,  and  dedicated  them  as  an  offering  to 
domestic  virtue,  vowing  that  henceforth  prudence  and 
modesty,  not  luxurious  apparel,  were  to  be  the  true  orna- 
ments of  their  sex.  Whether  this  story  be  true  or  not, 
there  is  no  doubt  that  Pythagoras  had  a  large  number  of 
women  among  his  disciples,  and  that  the  "Pythagorean 
Women"  attained  throughout  the  Greek  world  a  great 
and  enviable  reputation.  Pythagoras's  friendly  attitude 
toward  the  sex  was  probably  in  part  the  result  of  his 
cordial  relations  with  the  Delphian  priestess  Aristoclea, 
renowned  for  her  amiability  and  her  wisdom,  with  whom 
he  carried  on  a  learned  correspondence.  The  general  re- 
sults of  his  teachings  upon  woman  were  a  high  ideal  of 
feminine  morality,  careful  attention  to  household  duties, 
and  the  elevation  of  the  conception  of  motherhood,  espe- 
cially in  the  careful  rearing  of  children. 

Existing  fragments  of  the  works  of  "Pythagorean 
Women"  indicate  their  lofty  views  of  moral  perfection  and 
harmony,  and  their  practical  judgment  in  everyday  affairs. 
Sophrosyne  is  constantly  commended  as  the  chief  feminine 
virtue,  a  term  connoting  moderation,  self-containedness, 


GREEK  WOMEN  AND  THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION       307 

modesty,  and  wifely  fidelity — in  a  word,  all  that  is  essen- 
tially womanly. 

The  Neo-pythagorean  philosopher,  lamblichus,  in  his 
biography  of  Pythagoras  mentions  fifteen  celebrated 
women  of  the  School.  Other  writers  name  other  female 
adepts  in  Pythagorean  philosophy,  who  lived  during  and 
after  the  time  of  Pythagoras.  The  number  was  so  large 
that  the  comic  poets  Alexis  and  Cratinus  the  Younger, 
who,  like  most  Athenians,  had  a  genuine  contempt  for 
blue-stockings,  made  them  the  object  of  much  drollery 
and  ridicule. 

Of  all  the  Pythagorean  Women,  none  attained  such  ex- 
alted rank  as  Pythagoras's  wife,  the  high-minded  Theano. 
She  combined  virtue  and  wisdom  in  such  perfect  har- 
mony that  she  was  regarded  in  antiquity  not  only  as 
the  foremost  representative  of  feminine  scholarship,  but 
also  as  the  brilliant  prototype  of  true  womanhood.  Of 
the  life  of  Theano  we  know  only  a  few  characteristic  in- 
cidents, and  these  give  insight  into  her  character  mainly 
by  relating  "sayings"  uttered  by  her  on  certain  occa- 
sions. She  was  once  asked  for  what  she  wished  to  be 
distinguished.  She  replied  by  quoting  a  verse  of  Homer 
(II.  1:31):  "Minding  the  spindle  and  tending  my  marriage 
bed."  Another  time,  she  was  asked  what  most  became  a 
wife;  she  answered:  "to  live  entirely  for  her  husband." — 
Again,  she  was  asked  what  was  love;  "the  sickness  of  a 
longing  soul,"  was  her  answer.  Once,  while  she  was 
throwing  off  her  mantle,  it  happened  that  her  arm  was  ex- 
posed. A  gentleman,  struck  by  its  beauty  and  shapeli- 
ness, exclaimed:  "What  a  beautiful  arm!"  "But  not 
for  the  public  gaze,"  replied  the  wise  Theano,  while  she 
hastily  adjusted  her  robes.  This  remark  has  been  quoted 
by  Plutarch,  by  two  Church  Fathers,  Clement  of  Alexan- 
dria and  Theodoret,  and  by  the  Byzantine  authoress  Anna 


308  WOMAN 

Comnena,  as  a  noteworthy  apothegm,  tending  to  promote 
womanly  modesty  and  reserve. 

Theano  was  both  prose  writer  and  poetess.  Of  a  long 
epic  poem  written  by  her  in  hexameters  we  have  not 
even  a  fragment;  of  her  philosophical  works,  there  are 
still  extant  three  letters  of  great  charm  and  a  fragment 
of  a  philosophic  and  didactic  work  On  Piety.  This  frag- 
ment is  too  short  for  us  to  distinguish  in  it  anything  more 
than  the  highly  developed  reasoning  power  of  the  author; 
in  her  letters,  however,  discussing  the  rearing  of  children, 
the  treatment  of  servants,  and  the  suppression  of  jeal- 
ousy, the  sentiments  are  forceful,  and  the  style  has  a 
familiar  grace  and  tenderness.  The  relics  that  we  have 
abound  in  axiomatic  expressions,  emphasizing  womanly 
virtues  and  manifesting  the  lofty  morality  and  high  culture 
of  the  writer. 

After  the  death  of  Pythagoras,  Theano,  in  conjunction 
with  her  two  sons,  Telauges  and  Mnesarchus,  kept  up 
the  secret  order;  and  Theano,  as  teacher  and  as  writer, 
promulgated  her  husband's  doctrines.  The  time  and  cir- 
cumstances of  her  death  are  unknown. 

Theano's  three  daughters  followed  in  their  mother's 
footsteps.  Myia,  the  most  distinguished,  had  been  so 
carefully  reared  and  was  of  such  preeminent  virtue  that 
she  was  chosen  as  a  virgin  to  lead  the  chorus  of  maidens, 
and  as  a  wife  the  chorus  of  matrons,  at  all  the  sacred  fes- 
tivals of  Croton,  and  she  knelt  at  the  head  of  her  com- 
panions before  the  altars  of  the  gods.  She  was  the  wife 
of  Milon,  the  celebrated  athlete,  also  of  the  Pythagorean 
order;  their  union  was  in  all  respects  a  happy  one.  Myia 
was  also  a  writer,  but  we  have  only  one  letter  attributed 
to  her.  Her  work  in  the  spirit  of  her  father  was  so  bril- 
liant that  she  spread  the  fame  of  his  teachings  through- 
out all  Hellenic  lands.  There  was  probably  an  extensive 


GREEK  WOMEN  AND  THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION       309 

literature  about  her  in  antiquity,  for  Lucian,  several  cen- 
turies later,  says  he  had  much  to  tell  of  her,  but  that  her 
history  was  already  generally  known. 

Not  without  distinction  were  also  Myia's  sisters,  of 
whom  Arignote  attained  a  great  reputation  as  a  philoso- 
pher and  writer  of  epigrams,  while  Damo  distinguished 
herself  by  her  fidelity  to  her  father's  dying  request.  The 
story  goes  that  he  consigned  to  her  his  most  precious 
treasure, — his  memoirs, — with  the  injunction  that  she 
should  keep  them  secret  from  all  who  were  not  of  the 
family.  Though  offered  large  sums  for  them,  she  never 
yielded,  preferring  poverty  to  disobedience.  At  her  death 
she  turned  the  works  over  to  her  daughter  Bistalia,  with 
the  same  mandate  her  father  had  given  herself.  The 
granddaughter  remained  equally  faithful,  and  these  in- 
valuable works  perished  with  the  family.  Some  ancient 
writers  mention  as  another  daughter  of  Pythagoras, 
Theano  the  Younger,  of  Thurii,  but,  according  to  Suidas, 
she  was  a  daughter  of  Lycophron.  She  was  a  clever 
philosopher  and  a  prolific  authoress. 

Other  Pythagorean  Women  of  whom  we  know  more  than 
the  mere  name  are  Phintys,  Perictyone,  Melissa,  Ptole- 
mais,  and  Timycha.  Phintys  wrote  a  book  On  Womanly 
Virtue;  Perictyone — often  erroneously  identified  with  the 
mother  of  Plato — composed  a  work  On  Wisdom,  much 
prized  by  Aristotle,  and  another  Concerning  the  Harmony 
of  Women, — that  is,  concerning  the  accord  of  life  and 
thought,  of  feelings  and  actions,  the  right  relations  be- 
tween body  and  spirit.  Fragments  of  these  works  show 
the  Pythagorean  idea  concerning  the  mission  of  woman. 
They  connect  the  duties  of  woman  with  the  propensities 
and  faculties  peculiarly  her  own.  To  the  men,  they  leave 
the  defence  of  the  country  and  the  administration  of  public 
affairs;  to  the  women,  they  assign  the  government  of  the 


310  WOMAN 

home,  the  guardianship  of  the  family  hearth,  and  the  educa- 
tion of  children.  Personality  is  regarded  as  the  dominating 
virtue  of  man — chastity,  of  woman. 

Melissa  is  known  only  by  a  short  fragment  on  feminine 
love  of  adornment;  and  Ptolemais  was  a  specialist  in  music 
and  an  authority  on  the  Pythagorean  theory  of  music  in 
its  relation  to  life.  Of  Timycha  we  have  a  characteristic 
story.  She  lived  in  the  time  of  Dionysius  of  Syracuse. 
A  party  of  Pythagorean  pilgrims,  while  on  their  way  to 
Metapontum  to  celebrate  certain  rites,  were  attacked  by 
a  band  of  Syracusans.  They  at  first  fled;  but  when  they 
saw  they  must  pass  through  a  field  of  beans,  they  sud- 
denly stopped  and  fought  till  the  last  one  was  killed.  The 
Syracusans  shortly  after  came  upon  Mylias  of  Croton  and 
his  wife,  Timycha,  who,  on  account  of  her  delicate  condi- 
tion, had  been  left  behind  by  the  rest  of  their  party.  They 
were  arrested  and  brought  before  the  tyrant.  Dionysius 
promised  them  liberty  and  an  escort  to  their  destination 
if  they  would  tell  him  why  the  deceased  Pythagoreans 
refused  to  tread  on  the  beans.  But  they  refused  to  tell. 
Dionysius's  curiosity  was  all  the  more  excited,  and  he  had 
the  husband  taken  aside,  that  he  might  question  the  wife 
alone,  feeling  convinced  that  he  could  compel  her  to  answer 
his  question.  Threatened  with  the  torture,  and  fearing 
lest  in  her  weakness  she  might  be  overcome,  Timycha  bit 
out  her  tongue  rather  than  reveal  the  secrets  of  her  order. 

In  these  Pythagorean  Women,  we  observe  the  perfect 
blending  of  intellectual  beauty  with  moral  elevation.  Per- 
haps no  later  age  has  presented  a  higher  ideal  of  feminine 
perfection.  Their  system  of  culture  taught  them  how  to 
pursue  at  the  same  time  the  most  abstruse  philosophical 
speculations  and  the  most  insignificant  duties  of  practical 
life,  and  the  higher  learning  in  their  hands  never  led  to  a 
sacrifice  of  true  womanliness. 


GREEK  WOMEN  AND  THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION       311 

Passing  from  Croton  to  Athens,  Socrates,  the  father 
of  the  various  philosophical  schools,  had  no  female  disci- 
ples, so  far  as  we  are  informed;  but  he  is  credited  with 
saying  that  he  learned  the  art  of  love  from  the  priestess 
Diotima,  and  that  of  eloquence  from  Aspasia.  Xenophon 
also  recounts  a  lengthy  conversation  of  Socrates  with  the 
hetaera  Theodota  concerning  the  art  of  winning  men.  His 
most  eminent  disciple,  Plato,  had  numerous  pupils  of  the 
gentler  sex.  Plato  possessed  in  large  measure  the  ewig 
•weibliche,  which  Goethe  deems  an  essential  element  in  all 
great  men.  As  a  young  man  he  was  given  to  composing 
love  poems,  but  the  names  of  his  youthful  sweethearts  are 
not  known.  His  visits  to  Southern  Italy  made  him  sym- 
pathetic with  woman's  literary  aspirations;  and  when  he 
opened  the  door  of  the  Academy  to  them,  women  flocked 
to  his  lecture  room  from  various  cities  of  Hellas.  It  was 
the  first  known  instance  in  Athens  of  women  engaging  in 
philosophy. 

The  female  members  of  the  Academy  did  not  attain  to 
such  distinction  as  did  the  Pythagorean  Women.  The 
latter  were  of  Dorian  blood,  and  lived,  according  to  the 
rules  of  their  order,  in  the  greatest  simplicity  and  industry; 
the  former  were  chiefly  of  Ionian  stock  and  were  more 
inclined  to  lives  of  ease  and  luxury.  Consequently,  they 
did  not  cultivate  those  domestic  virtues  which  made  the 
Pythagorean  Women  so  superior.  Athens  was  not  the  place 
for  feminine  ambition  to  receive  proper  recognition,  and 
the  honorable  maids  and  matrons  could  not,  if  they  wished, 
pursue  the  study  of  philosophy  in  association  with  the  male 
sex;  hence  the  feminine  element  of  the  Academy  was 
composed  of  strangers,  who  were  attracted  to  Athens  by 
the  fame  of  the  philosopher. 

Of  Plato's  immediate  family,  only  his  sister  Potone,  the 
mother  of  his  pupil  and  successor  Speusippus,  appears  to 


312  WOMAN 

have  engaged  in  philosophical  studies.  Of  the  strangers 
associated  with  the  Academy,  under  Plato  and  later  under 
Speusippus,  two  gained  especial  distinction — Axiothea  and 
Lasthenia. 

Axiothea,  who  was  also  called  Phlisia,  was  a  native  of 
Phlius,  a  small  Peloponnesian  town  in  the  district  of  Sicyon, 
whence  came  the  poetess  Praxilla.  The  story  goes  that 
some  works  of  Plato  fell  into  the  maiden's  hands,  and  she 
read  them  with  great  zeal  and  industry.  His  Republic 
finally  aroused  her  enthusiasm  to  such  a  pitch  that  her 
desire  for  personal  instruction  from  the  philosopher  could 
no  longer  be  resisted.  So  she  assumed  masculine  attire, 
made  the  journey  alone  to  Athens,  and  was  received  into 
the  Academy.  She  continued  the  use  of  men's  clothing, 
and  for  a  long  time  concealed  her  sex,  becoming  one  of 
the  most  prominent  and  zealous  members  of  the  school. 
Plato  was  so  impressed  with  her  ability  that,  as  tradition 
says,  he  would  postpone  his  lectures  if  Axiothea  chanced 
to  be  absent.  When  he  was  asked  the  reason  for  such 
an  interruption,  he  replied:  "The  intellect  sufficient  to 
grasp  the  subject  is  not  yet  present " — meaning  Axiothea. 
She  frequented  the  Academy  also  under  Speusippus,  and 
became  herself  a  teacher  of  philosophy.  Nothing  but 
what  is  commendable  is  known  of  her,  but  her  reputation 
has  suffered  from  the  association  of  her  name  with  that 
of  Lasthenia.  The  latter  came  from  Arcadia  to  Athens  to 
hear  Plato,  attracted,  as  was  her  fellow  student,  by  the 
fame  of  the  philosopher.  The  prevailing  life  of  the  stranger- 
women  in  Athens,  however,  undermined  her  moral  prin- 
ciples, and  she  played  in  the  Academy  a  similar  role  to 
that  played  by  Leontium  later  among  the  Epicureans. 
Speusippus  himself  was  her  lover.  Though  better  known 
for  her  adventures  as  a  hetasra,  she  also  possessed  some 
reputation  as  a  philosopher.  Dionysius  once  wrote  to 


GREEK  WOMEN  AND  THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION      313 

Speusippus:  "  One  can  also  learn  philosophy  from  your 
Arcadian  pupil." 

The  Cyrenaic  School,  founded  by  Aristippus,  the  fore- 
runner of  the  Epicurean  in  its  doctrine  of  pleasure,  natu- 
rally attracted  women,  especially  courtesans,  into  its 
membership.  The  celebrated  Lais  the  Elder  was  num- 
bered among  the  Cyrenaics;  but  there  were  also  high- 
minded  women  among  its  disciples. 

Arete,  daughter  of  Aristippus,  continued  the  latter's 
teachings  after  his  death.  Her  father  had  given  her  a 
most  thorough  education,  and  himself  instructed  her  in 
philosophy.  She  was  taught  to  despise  riches  and  luxury 
and  to  observe  moderation  in  all  things.  Aristippus  once 
said:  "  The  greatest  thing  which  my  daughter  Arete  has 
to  thank  me  for  is  that  I  have  taught  her  to  set  a  value  on 
nothing  she  can  do  without."  Arete  was  also  learned  in 
natural  history  and  in  other  branches  of  science.  She 
passed  her  time  partly  in  Athens,  partly  in  Gyrene  and 
other  Greek  cities;  and  wherever  she  went  she  aroused 
great  interest  by  the  charm  of  her  beauty  and  amiabil- 
ity. There  is  no  reproach  whatever  upon  her  good  name: 
she  appears  to  have  been  an  ingenuous,  highly  endowed 
woman,  devoted  to  science  and  philosophy.  As  head 
of  the  Cyrenaic  School  after  her  father's  death,  she  had 
many  distinguished  pupils,  among  them  Theodorus  and 
Aristippus  the  Younger.  She  was  a  prolific  writer;  forty 
works  are  attributed  to  her,  on  philosophy,  on  agriculture, 
on  the  wars  of  the  Athenians,  on  the  life  of  Socrates,  and 
various  other  subjects,  showing  the  wide  range  of  her 
interests.  She  died  at  Gyrene,  in  the  seventy-seventh 
year  of  her  age;  and  in  the  inscription  over  her  grave  she 
was  styled  a  "  light  of  Hellas." 

The  coarse  doctrines  of  the  Cynic  school,  founded  by 
Antisthenes,  were  not  attractive  to  women,  yet  the  school 


3M  WOMAN 

had  one  female  representative  who  has  become  famous  and 
has  been  in  recent  years  the  subject  of  a  racy  romantic 
poem.  This  Cynic  was  Hipparchia. 

The  ugly  and  ill-shapen  Crates  of  Thebes  was  one  of 
the  successors  of  Antisthenes.  A  beautiful  and  popular 
maiden,  Hipparchia,  with  her  brother  Metrocles,  heard 
the  lectures  of  Crates,  and  she  was  so  captivated  by  his 
teachings  and  his  manner  of  life  that  she  became  not  only 
his  most  zealous  disciple,  but  fell  violently  in  love  with  her 
teacher.  She  scorned  all  her  younger,  richer,  more  hand- 
some suitors,  and  declared  that  she  would  have  only 
Crates.  She  threatened  to  kill  herself  if  her  parents  did 
not  secure  Crates  for  her  husband.  They  tried  to  dissuade 
her;  even  Crates,  at  the  request  of  her  parents,  sought  to 
make  her  abandon  her  purpose.  Yet  every  effort  was 
fruitless.  Finally  Crates,  throwing  off  his  clothing,  ap- 
peared before  her  and  said:  "Such  is  the  shape  of  your 
bridegroom:  this  is  all  he  possesses.  Take  careful  counsel 
with  yourself,  for  you  cannot  become  my  wife  unless  you 
accept  my  whole  manner  of  life.  Ponder  it  well,  that 
you  may  later  have  no  pretext  for  ill  feeling."  "  Already 
a  long  time,"  answered  the  maiden,  "have  I  anticipated 
this  and  thought  over  it;  I  can  nowhere  on  earth  find  a 
richer  or  handsomer  husband  than  you.  Take  me,  then, 
with  you,  wherever  you  may  go."  Seeing  that  her  mind 
was  made  up,  the  parents  finally  gave  their  consent  to  the 
marriage  of  their  daughter  with  the  philosopher. 

Crates,  as  a  true  Cynic,  straightway  led  his  wife  into 
one  of  the  colonnades,  and  publicly  celebrated  his  nuptials. 
Hipparchia  entered  fully  into  the  manner  of  life  of  her  hus- 
band. She  clad  herself  in  coarse  garments  like  his,  accom- 
panied him  everywhere,  and  bore  many  privations.  Many 
cynical  sophisms  and  apothegms  are  attributed  to  Hip- 
parchia, who  became  one  of  the  most  prominent  members 


GREEK  WOMEN  AND  THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION      315 

of  the  school.  We  know  but  little  of  her  later  life,  beyond 
the  fact  that  she  was  the  mother  of  one  son,  Pasicles,  and 
of  several  daughters. 

The  Megarian  school  of  philosophy,  founded  by  Euclides 
of  Megara,  a  pupil  of  Socrates,  practised  dialectic,  and  was 
called  the  Eristic,  or  disputatious,  sect.  The  art  of  dis- 
putation appealed  to  the  female  sex,  and  a  number  of 
women  allied  themselves  with  this  school.  The  first 
female  Dialecticians  were  the  five  daughters  of  Diodorus, 
an  eminent  disciple  of  Euclides,  and  they  conferred  much 
honor  on  the  school.  Argia  was  the  most  celebrated  of 
the  sisters  for  her  mental  endowments  and  dialectic  skill, 
but  unfortunately  there  are  but  scant  records  of  the  philo- 
sophical activity  of  Argia  and  her  four  sisters,  Artemisia, 
Menexena,  Theognis,  and  Pantadea.  Hieronymus  com- 
mends the  five  for  their  modesty  as  well  as  for  their  intel- 
lectual attainments,  and  they  must  have  aroused  general 
enthusiasm,  as  Philo,  a"  disciple  of  their  father,  wrote  a 
book  about  them.  Euclides  was  succeeded  by  Stilpo  as 
head  of  the  school,  and  among  his  hearers  was  Nicarete 
of  Megara,  the  daughter  of  prominent  parents,  who  be- 
came renowned  for  her  cleverness  and  profound  learning. 
She  adopted  the  hetaera  life,  and  was  the  "companion" 
of  Stilpo  himself.  The  relation  was  tender  and  enduring, 
but  she  did  not  restrict  herself  to  one  lover.  Her  favors, 
however,  were  not  to  be  won,  as  usual,  by  the  payment 
of  gold,  but  through  the  invention  or  solution  of  a  difficult 
sophism. 

The  philosophy  of  Epicurus  was  a  comfortable  and 
pleasing  doctrine  for  people  of  light  morals,  and  in  con- 
sequence we  meet  with  the  names  of  a  large  number  of 
young  and  beautiful  heta?ra?  who  infested  the  Gardens 
of  Epicurus,  among  whom  were  a  Boidion,  Media,  Nicid- 
ion,  E ration,  Manna rion,  and  the  celebrated  Leontium. 


3l6  WOMAN 

Their  presence  gave  the  enemies  of  the  Epicurean  sect 
justification  for  characterizing  their  philosophy  as  a  sys- 
tem of  immorality;  and  the  strict  moralist  and  academician 
Plutarch  violently  censured  the  Epicureans  "who  lived 
with  the  hetera  Hedeia  or  Leontium,  spat  in  the  face  of 
virtue,  and  found  the  summum  bonum  in  the  flesh  and  in 
sensuality."  While  nothing  but  the  names  of  the  other 
Epicurean  hetaerae  have  survived,  Leontium,  by  her  varied 
accomplishments,  has  won  an  abiding  prominence  in  the 
intellectual  world. 

Leontium,  "the  little  lioness,"  is  indisputably  the  most 
remarkable  and  attractive  personality  in  the  philosophical 
demi-monde  of  Ancient  Greece.  Of  her  home  and  her 
family,  history  is  silent;  but  she  was  the  product  of  a 
hetera  seminary  which  imparted  to  its  pupils  a  thorough 
intellectual  discipline  in  addition  to  the  secrets  of  "  gal- 
lantry" and  the  knowledge  of  cosmetic  arts.  When  she 
became  a  favorite  of  Epicurus  and  began  to  study  philoso- 
phy, she  continued  the  practice  of  hetairism,  which  occa- 
sioned great  vexation  to  the  master,  not  because  he 
deplored  her  light  morals,  but  because  he  was  himself 
passionately  enamored  of  the  highly  gifted  maiden.  The 
aged  and  broken  Epicurus  could  not  attach  to  himself 
alone  the  high-spirited  creature,  who  preferred  the  beau- 
tiful and  wealthy  Timarchus.  One  of  her  early  lovers 
was  the  poet  Hermesianax  of  Colophon,  to  whom  she 
owed  her  literary  training.  He  dedicated  to  her  three 
books  of  elegies,  entitled  Leontium,  fragments  of  which 
are  extant.  Leontium's  fame  is  due  most  of  all  to  her 
activity  as  an  authoress.  Theophrastus  the  Peripatetic 
published  a  work  On  Marriage  in  which  he  severely 
handled  the  female  sex.  Leontium  wrote  a  reply  in 
which  she  displayed  so  much  subtlety,  learning,  and 
argumentative  power  that  Theophrastus  was  thoroughly 


GREEK  WOMEN  AND  THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION      317 

routed.  This  work  caused  general  admiration.  Cicero 
commends  it,  and  Pliny  pays  a  tribute  to  its  excellence. 
Unfortunately  for  our  study  of  the  social  status  of  Greek 
women,  the  work  is  lost.  Leontium  had  a  daughter, 
Danae  by  name,  who  was  also  a  hetera  and  a  consistent 
Epicurean.  She  became  the  favorite  of  Sophron,  Prefect 
of  Ephesus. 

Though  the  Epicurean  hetaeree  have  brought  reproach 
upon  the  sect,  yet  there  were  honorable  women  of  irre- 
proachable reputation  who  became  members  of  the  school. 
The  chief  of  these  was  Themista,  wife  of  Leontius  of 
Lampsacus,  styled  by  Strabo  "the  most  excellent  man 
of  the  city."  Epicurus  became  acquainted  with  the 
couple  during  his  four  years'  sojourn  in  Lampsacus  and 
was  much  influenced  by  their  learning  and  culture.  He 
won  them  to  his  system  of  philosophy,  and  he  ever  after- 
ward carried  on  a  most  industrious  correspondence  with 
them,  and  especially  with  Themista.  Her  name  became 
widely  known  both  within  and  without  Epicurean  circles. 
The  Church  Father  Lactantius  regarded  her  as  a  model  of 
feminine  culture  and  as  the  only  true  philosopher  among 
the  heathen  Greeks.  Themista  was  very  active  as  an 
author,  and  there  was  in  antiquity  an  extensive  Themista 
literature,  which  has  entirely  disappeared. 

As  the  various  schools  of  philosophy  thus  far  mentioned 
began  to  lose  their  hold  upon  mankind,  there  were  two 
tendencies  manifest  among  thoughtful  people:  the  first,  to 
doubt  whether  it  was  possible  to  ascertain  truth, — the 
spirit  of  scepticism;  the  second,  to  combine  from  earlier 
systems  whatever  seemed  most  worthy  of  credence, — the 
spirit  of  eclecticism. 

The  two  systems  which  appealed  most  to  enlightened 
pagans  during  the  earlier  Christian  centuries  were  those 
of  Pythagoras  and  Plato,  which  offered  many  points  of 


31 8  WOMAN 

likeness.  By  the  union  of  these  with  certain  Hebraic  or 
Oriental  elements,  there  arose  the  philosophical  amalgam 
known  as  Neo-platonism.  Plotinus  is  regarded  as  the 
founder  of  this  system  in  the  third  century  of  our  era. 
Through  his  attractive  personality  and  the  timeliness  of  his 
teachings,  Plotinus  rapidly  gained  a  great  following  among 
the  learned,  especially  philosophers,  statesmen,  physi- 
cians, and  ladies  of  high  social  station.  He  passed  many 
years  in  Rome,  where  a  large  number  of  noble  ladies,  in- 
cluding the  Empress  Salomina,  were  among  his  hearers. 
From  Rome,  Neo-platonism  spread  over  the  Empire;  and 
in  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  century,  we  find  the  theos- 
ophist  lamblichus,  who  united  the  Neo-platonic  philoso- 
phy with  thaumaturgy,  attracting  to  himself  large  numbers 
of  highly  cultured  men  and  women,  who  still  clung  to 
paganism.  Syria  was  the  centre  of  this  movement,  which 
reached  across  Asia  Minor  and  became  popular  even  in 
Athens  and  Alexandria.  Among  the  followers  of  lambli- 
chus in  Asia  was  an  excellent  and  learned  woman,  who 
became  celebrated  by  her  intense  devotion  to  this  philoso- 
phy. Sosipatra  was  the  beautiful  and  noble-hearted  wife 
of  Eustathius,  Prefect  of  Cappadocia.  After  the  death  of 
Eustathius,  she  became  the  wife  of  a  kinsman,  by  name 
Philometor,  and  dedicated  the  rest  of  her  life  to  the  pro- 
motion of  science  and  philosophy  and  to  the  education  of 
her  children,  whom  she  herself  instructed  and  of  whom 
she  made  ardent  and  intelligent  disciples  of  Neo-platonism. 
At  Athens,  where  philosophical  studies  had  for  a  long 
period  declined,  Platonism  was  revived  by  the  Emperor 
Julian  the  Apostate,  who  appointed  Plutarchus  the  first 
head  of  the  New  Academy.  Plutarchus  had  a  daughter, 
Asclepigenia  by  name,  who  had  been  initiated  into  all  the 
mysteries  of  Neo-platonism  and  thaumaturgy,  and  who 
played  a  prominent  role  in  the  new  school.  It  is  related 


GREEK  WOMEN  AND  THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION      319 

of  her  that  after  the  death  of  her  father  she  kept  alive 
the  knowledge  of  the  great  orgies  and  all  the  secret  lore 
of  thaumaturgy.  In  association  with  her  brother  Hierius, 
she  became  the  head  of  the  New  Academy,  and  through 
her  personality  and  her  lectures  she  exercised  a  great 
influence  over  the  philosophic  youth  of  the  day.  Her 
daughter,  Asclepigenia  the  Younger,  was  likewise  a  de- 
voted Neo-platonist,  and  continued  the  traditions  of  the 
school.  But  the  appearance  of  the  two  Asclepigenias  in 
the  history  of  philosophy  cannot  be  regarded  as  of  much 
importance,  as  the  system  of  thaumaturgy  which  they 
advocated  was  scientifically  worthless. 

About  the  same  time,  however,  there  lived  in  Alexan- 
dria a  beautiful  and  learned  pagan,  who  ranks  as  the 
last  brilliant  star  in  the  philosophical  firmament  before 
the  twilight  of  the  gods.  Charles  Kingsley's  historical 
romance,  Hypatia,  or  New  Foes  with  an  Old  Face,  has 
depicted  in  an  impressive  manner  the  womanly  graces, 
the  learning,  the  elevating  influence,  and  the  tragic  fate, 
of  the  last  of  the  Greek  women,  and  has  made  the  name  of 
Hypatia  a  household  word.  His  vivid  portrayal  of  social 
life  in  Alexandria  at  the  dawn  of  the  fifth  century  brings 
out  most  strongly  the  phases  of  the  closing  conflict  between 
paganism  and  Christianity,  and  invests  with  an  atmosphere 
of  aerial  clearness  and  radiance  the  heroine,  who  almost 
singly  and  alone  fights  the  battle  for  the  old  gods. 

About  the  year  370,  to  Theon,  a  noted  astronomer  and 
mathematician  of  Alexandria,  a  daughter  was  born,  to 
whom  he  gave  the  name  Hypatia.  The  child  very  early 
exhibited  extraordinary  intellectual  endowments,  and 
Theon  himself  took  charge  of  her  education.  She  rap- 
idly mastered  his  own  favorite  subjects  of  mathematics 
and  astronomy,  and  the  most  celebrated  teachers  of  the 
day  were  called  in  to  give  her  instruction  in  the  various 


320  WOMAN 

branches  of  rhetoric  and  philosophy.  All  the  ancient 
philosophical  systems  were  pursued  by  the  devoted  and 
zealous  maiden,  and  the  prevailing  system  of  the  time, 
that  of  Neo-platonism,  appealed  especially  to  her  spirit. 

As  she  attained  to  womanhood,  Hypatia  united  with  the 
charm  of  extraordinary  beauty  all  the  rarest  traits  of  spirit 
and  character.  She  became  the  object  of  flattering  regard 
on  the  part  of  the  cultured;  the  common  people  rever- 
enced her  as  a  superior  being,  and  even  the  Christians 
respected  her  learning  and  her  demeanor.  Hypatia  was 
worthy  of  all  the  admiration  that  she  excited.  Amid  the 
widespread  corruption  of  the  age,  she  lived  as  spotless  as 
a  vestal.  The  philosophy  she  professed  preserved  her 
from  pollution  and  inspired  her  with  the  love  of  beauty, 
truth,  and  goodness. 

With  her  intense  devotion  to  the  gods  of  her  fathers, 
with  her  extraordinary  endowments  and  wide  learn- 
ing, with  her  preeminent  virtues  and  the  charm  of  her 
whole  personality,  this  celebrated  maiden  appeared  to  the 
pagan  world  as  a  higher  being  sent  by  the  gods  to  defend 
the  ancient  faith  against  the  subverting  teachings  of  the 
Christians, — a  herald,  who  with  the  weapons  of  exalted 
wisdom  and  moral  sublimity  should  win  the  victory  and 
restore  the  worship  of  the  gods  to  its  former  splendor. 
This  was  also  the  ambition  of  the  virgin  philosopher. 

Hypatia's  early  womanhood  was  passed  in  the  period 
when  hostility  to  paganism  reached  its  height.  She  was 
barely  twenty-one  when  Theodosius  I.  issued  an  edict  com- 
manding the  destruction  of  heathen  temples  and  images  at 
Alexandria,  and  from  this  time  the  patriarchs  of  the  city  en- 
deavored to  exercise  both  spiritual  and  temporal  authority 
and  to  root  out  every  vestige  of  paganism. 

Against  such  an  opposition  Hypatia  sought  to  contend. 
Her  weapons  were  not  carnal,  but  intellectual.  By  a 


GREEK  WOMEN  AND  THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION      321 

spread  of  the  knowledge  of  Greek  philosophy  and  litera- 
ture, she  sought  to  quicken  the  sensibilities  of  the  people 
and  to  reawaken  a  reverence  for  the  Greek  gods.  It 
seemed  at  first  as  if  her  efforts  would  be  crowned  with 
success.  Her  lecture  hall  was  crowded  with  the  clever 
and  intellectual  men  of  the  day,  and  many  came  from 
distant  parts,  attracted  by  the  reputation  of  her  beauty 
and  learning.  Hypatia  soon  surpassed  all  her  contempo- 
raries in  wisdom  and  influence,  and  rapidly  became  the 
soul  of  the  rather  numerous  pagan  community  at  Alexan- 
dria. This  remarkable  maiden  was  honored  with  a  devo- 
tion which  almost  bordered  on  idolatry.  Orestes,  the 
prefect  of  the  city,  though  professedly  a  Christian,  often 
came  to  her  for  counsel.  The  learned  and  eloquent  Syne- 
sius  of  Cyrene,  afterward  a  Church  Father,  was  one  of 
her  devoted  followers,  and  even  after  his  conversion  to 
Christianity  maintained  a  correspondence  with  her  and 
showed  in  manifold  ways  his  regard  for  his  former  teacher. 
Numerous  panegyrics  and  epigrams  were  composed,  lauding 
her  in  most  exalted  terms. 

Thus  Hypatia,  by  moral  suasion  and  by  avoiding  all 
open  opposition,  sought  to  wean  the  people  from  Chris- 
tianity and  to  revive  their  faith  in  the  ancient  gods.  Her 
success  in  attracting  to  paganism  both  the  cultured  and  the 
plain  people  naturally  caused  her  to  be  an  object  of  hatred 
and  jealousy  to  those  who  strove  to  promote  Christianity 
by  violence  and  force. 

The  name  of  Cyril,  among  the  Church  Fathers,  is  the 
synonym  for  fanaticism  and  bigotry.  Elevated  to  the  archi- 
episcopal  chair  of  Alexandria  to  succeed  his  uncle,  Theoph- 
ilus,  he  sought  to  attain  supreme  power  in  the  city  and 
to  make  the  power  of  the  Church  dominant  in  temporal 
affairs.  He  succeeded  in  expelling  the  Jews,  and  then 
turned  his  attention  to  the  extermination  of  paganism. 


322  WOMAN 

As  Hypatia  was  the  chief  exponent  of  the  old  gods,  and  as 
her  influence  extended  even  to  the  palace  of  the  prefect, 
Cyril  hated  her  with  all  the  zeal  of  bigotry  and  was  eager 
for  her  downfall.  Irreproachable  in  conduct,  beloved  of 
all,  influential  with  the  civil  power,  she  was  not  subject 
to  attack  in  any  open  manner,  and  Cyril  finally  counte- 
nanced an  inhuman  and  disgusting  plot  of  assassination 
devised  by  the  most  violent  of  his  followers — the  deacon 
Peter. 

One  day  in  March  of  the  year  415,  Peter  secretly  gath- 
ered in  an  alley  not  far  from  the  lecture  hall  of  Hypatia  a 
band  of  savage  monks  from  the  Nitrian  desert.  When 
the  customary  lecture  hour  approached,  Hypatia,  uncon- 
scious of  danger,  left  her  house  and  entered  her  chariot  to 
drive  to  the  lecture  hall.  Soon  the  mob  of  zealots,  headed 
by  Peter,  rush  out  from  the  alley,  seize  the  horses,  tear 
the  helpless  woman  from  her  seat,  and  drag  her  into  a 
neighboring  church.  Here,  more  like  savage  beasts  than 
men,  Peter's  frenzied  followers  remove  from  her  every 
shred  of  clothing,  and  at  the  foot  of  the  bleeding  image 
of  the  Saviour  of  mankind  do  to  death  the  virgin  martyr 
in  the  most  horrible  manner  with  fragments  of  tiles  and 
mussel  shells.  The  limbs  are  torn  from  the  still  quivering 
body,  and,  when  life  is  extinct,  the  howling  mob  gather  up 
and  burn  the  fragments  of  the  mutilated  corpse. 

It  was  a  horrible  deed.  The  life  of  a  beautiful  and 
talented  maiden  was  sacrificed  for  the  cause  which  she 
professed,  and,  like  many  a  Christian  maiden,  she  attained 
by  her  death  the  sanctity  of  martyrdom.  The  purity  and 
nobility  of  her  character  invested  her  with  an  enduring 
fame,  and,  though  her  end  marks  the  doom  of  the  old  gods, 
Hypatia  herself  will  never  be  forgotten.  Judged  by  the 
abiding  results  of  her  activity,  Hypatia  was,  like  Shelley, 
"a  beautiful  and  ineffectual  angel  beating  in  the  void  her 


GREEK  WOMEN  AND  THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION      323 

luminous  wings  in  vain,"  but  as  the  embodiment  of  the 
highest  and  best  elements  of  Greek  culture  she  deserves 
to  rank  as  one  of  the  most  typical  of  Greek  women. 

A  peculiar  and  deeprrooted  trait  in  woman's  nature  is 
tender  compassion  and  sympathetic  devotion  to  suffer- 
ing humanity.  Hence  from  heroic  times  onward  through 
the  various  epochs  of  Greek  history  we  find  women  at  the 
bedside  of  the  sick  and  the  wounded,  acting  as  attend- 
ant, nurse,  or  physician.  Thus  it  is  not  surprising  that 
we  should  find  Greek  women  preeminent  in  the  art  of 
medicine. 

In  the  Heroic  Age,  Homeric  heroines  were  gifted  with  a 
knowledge  of  plants  and  their  virtues.  Hecate,  wife  of 
King  yEetes  of  Colchis,  her  daughter  Medea,  and  Circe 
were  so  celebrated  in  this  respect  that  they  passed  for 
enchantresses.  One  has  but  to  recall  the  transformation 
of  Odysseus's  companions  into  swine  as  an  evidence  of 
Circe's  peculiar  power.  All  the  daughters  of  Asclepius 
the  physician — Hygiea,  Panacea,  laso,  and  yEgle — were 
specialists  in  medicine.  Helen  of  Troy  knew  how  to  com- 
pound her  celebrated  potion,  Nepenthe,  which  made  men 
forget  all  care  and  enjoy  sound  slumbers;  and  OEnone, 
the  forsaken  wife  of  Paris,  and  Agamede,  daughter  of  a 
king  of  Elis,  were  skilled  in  the  use  of  simples. 

In  historical  times,  the  Thessalian  women  were  noted 
for  their  knowledge  of  the  virtues  of  plants,  and  were 
acquainted  with  all  forms  of  witchcraft.  They  were  fre- 
quently consulted  for  the  preparation  of  "love  potions," 
and,  as  midwives,  were  in  demand  throughout  Hellas. 
Women  naturally  preferred  women's  services  in  those 
ailments  which  are  peculiar  to  the  sex;  but  in  ancient 
Athens,  so  unfriendly  to  the  female  sex  in  its  laws,  there 
was  a  statute  forbidding  the  practice  of  gynaecology  by 


324  WOMAN 

women  as  a  profession.  Women  rebelled,  but  their  com- 
plaints were  without  avail. 

Agnodice,  whose  date  is  not  known,  was  the  name  of 
the  courageous  maiden  who  broke  the  prevailing  tradi- 
tions and  won  a  natural  right  for  her  sex.  She  conceived 
the  idea  of  studying  medicine  in  secret  until  she  became 
an  expert,  and  then  of  offering  her  services  to  women, 
also  in  secret,  for  medical  treatment,  especially  in  cases 
of  maternity.  To  this  end,  she  cut  off  her  hair,  adopted 
masculine  apparel,  and,  as  a  promising  youth,  took  instruc- 
tion in  medicine  from  Hierophilus,  a  celebrated  physician. 
Her  progress  was  rapid,  and  when  she  was  pronounced  suf- 
ficiently equipped  for  independent  practice  she  revealed 
her  identity  to  prospective  mothers,  who  gladly  availed 
themselves  of  her  services,  so  that  she  soon  obtained 
the  monopoly  of  this  kind  of  practice.  The  other  physi- 
cians were  naturally  overcome  with  jealousy  and  chagrin 
that  the  young  doctor  should  supplant  them,  and  finally 
they  brought  charges  of  malpractice  against  the  supposed 
youth.  Agnodice  was  brought  to  trial,  and  in  self-defence 
was  compelled  to  reveal  her  sex.  The  older  physicians 
then  endeavored  to  have  the  laws  enforced  against  her; 
but  all  the  prominent  ladies  of  the  city  took  her  part,  and 
the  obnoxious  laws  were  repealed. 

From  that  time  forward,  large  numbers  of  women  studied 
medicine,  the  majority  devoting  their  attention  to  the  dis- 
eases of  women  and  children.  These  female  physicians 
frequently  appear  as  medical  writers,  especially  on  gynae- 
cology and  pediatrics.  They  also  produced  many  treat- 
ises on  cosmetics,  which  ranked  as  a  branch  of  hygiene 
and  was  cultivated  most  diligently  by  many  eminent 
physicians.  These  women  rivalled  one  another  in  the 
discovery  of  an  endless  variety  of  toilet  preparations, 
beauty  wafers,  skin  and  hair  ointments,  pastes  and 


GREEK  WOMEN  AND  THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION      325 

powders,  and  wine  essences  for  the  removal  of  pimples 
and  freckles. 

In  later  and  more  immoral  times,  female  physicians  lent 
their  talents  gladly  to  demoralization  and  license,  and  wrote 
treatises  on  love  potions  and  abortives — a  disreputable 
form  of  literature  very  popular  with  the  hetaerse,  and 
which,  according  to  Pliny,  found  diligent  readers  among 
the  great  ladies  of  Rome.  Of  all  the  numerous  works 
of  the  feminine  doctors,  only  fragments  and  excerpts  have 
come  down  to  us,  and  their  loss  is  not  greatly  to  be  re- 
gretted. Yet  credit  is  due  to  these  women  as  pioneers 
in  female  emancipation,  and  the  most  eminent  of  them 
deserve  to  be  rescued  from  oblivion. 

The  greatest  was  Aspasia — not  the  favorite  of  Peri- 
cles nor  the  devoted  companion  of  Cyrus  the  Younger, 
but  the  "  medical "  Aspasia,  who  was  a  prominent  figure 
in  the  Athens  of  the  fourth  century  before  the  Christian 
era.  She  attained  great  fame,  not  only  in  women's  dis- 
eases, but  also  in  surgery  and  other  branches  of  medicine, 
as  may  be  judged  from  the  titles  of  her  works,  preserved 
by  Aetius,  a  physician  and  writer  of  the  fifth  century  of 
our  era.  It  seems  clear  from  what  is  known  of  her  that 
the  Athenian  women  saw  nothing  criminal  in  giving  and 
using  abortives.  Even  Aristotle  desired  to  have  a  law 
regulating  the  number  of  children  that  might  be  borne  by 
woman. 

Antiochis,  to  whom  Heraclides  of  Tarentum,  one  of  the 
best  physicians  of  antiquity,  dedicated  his  works,  was  a 
practising  female  physician  in  Magna  Graecia,  in  the  third 
century  before  Christ,  who  devoted  especial  attention  to 
salves  and  plaster  cures.  To  the  great  Cleopatra  has 
been  ascribed  the  authorship  of  a  work  "on  the  medical 
means  of  preserving  beauty";  but  there  were  probably 
one  or  more  physicians  of  this  name,  as  there  are  various 


326  WOMAN 

treatises  ascribed  to  "Cleopatra."  Other  female  physi- 
cians, of  whom  we  know  little  more  than  the  name  and 
the  titles  of  their  works,  are  Olympias  of  Boeotia,  Salpe, 
Elephantis,  Sotira,  Pamphile,  Myro,  Spendusa,  Maia,  and 
Berenice. 

Space  will  not  suffer  us  to  do  more  than  call  attention  to 
many  wise  and  able  women  of  Hellas  who  were  eminent 
in  other  branches  of  learning.  In  historical  writings,  Thu- 
cydides's  daughter  is  worthy  of  mention,  as  she  is  said  to 
have  composed  the  eighth  book  of  her  father's  history  of 
the  Peloponnesian  War;  Nicobule,  the  author  of  a  history 
of  Alexander  the  Great,  was  another  excellent  woman 
writer.  Plutarch  gathered  about  him  a  learned  circle  of 
women,  of  whom  the  chief  was  Clea,  the  clever  matron 
of  Delphi,  to  whom  he  dedicated  several  of  his  works,  and 
Eurydice,  who  enjoyed  his  instruction.  Aganice,  daughter 
of  Hegetor  of  Thessaly,  possessed  an  astonishing  knowl- 
edge of  astronomy,  and  was  regarded  as  an  enchan- 
tress. To  Melanippe,  the  sculptor  Lysistratus  erected  a 
monument  as  a  tribute  to  her  learning. 

Alexandria,  with  its  vast  number  of  scholars,  its  libra- 
ries and  museums,  and  its  intellectual  freedom  for  women, 
naturally  produced  a  large  number  of  women  eminent  in 
history  and  philology.  Frequently  philologists'  daughters 
were  trained  from  childhood  by  their  fathers,  and  after- 
ward became  their  companions  and  secretaries  in  literary 
labors.  The  most  prominent  of  these  literary  feminine 
grammarians  was  doubtless  Hestiaea  of  Alexandria,  a 
Homeric  scholar  of  note,  who  was  the  first  to  devote 
scientific  attention  to  the  topography  of  the  Iliad  and  to 
throw  doubt  on  the  generally  accepted  view  that  New 
Ilium  was  the  site  of  Ancient  Troy.  Pamphile,  daughter 
of  the  grammarian  Soteridas  and  wife  of  the  scholar 
Socratidas,  was  a  woman  of  wide  erudition,  celebrated 


GREEK  WOMEN  AND  THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION      327 

especially  as  essayist  and  historian.  Others  whose  names 
are  associated  with  similar  labors  are  Agallis,  Theodora, 
and  Theosebia. 

When  one  reflects  on  the  varied  activity  of  Greek 
women,  the  conclusion  forces  itself  upon  him  that  they 
were  intellectually  as  acquisitive  and  as  brilliant  as  the 
Greek  men,  who  have  set  the  standard  for  the  world  in 
the  realm  of  literature  and  science.  Cleverness  is  the 
most  salient  characteristic  of  the  Greek  intelligence,  and 
this  trait  belonged  as  truly  to  the  female  sex  as  to  the 
male.  The  Renaissance  furnishes  examples  of  women 
renowned  for  their  erudition  and  culture;  but  perhaps 
only  the  present  age  furnishes  an  adequate  parallel  to  the 
varied  intellectual  activities  of  Greek  women  in  the  cen- 
turies that  followed  the  decline  of  Greek  independence  and 
that  saw  the  spread  of  Greek  culture  among  all  civilized 
peoples.  Modern  women  can  therefore  learn  much  from 
their  Greek  sisters  in  all  that  pertains  to  the  so-called 
emancipation  of  the  sex. 


Jffiacefcoutau  512Eoman 


XIV 

THE  MACEDONIAN  WOMAN 

SEPARATED  from  the  lands  of  the  Hellenes  by  the  range 
of  the  Cambunian  Mountains  which  extended  north  of 
Thessaly  from  Mount  Olympus  on  the  east  to  Mount 
Lacmon  on  the  west,  there  lay  a  rugged  country,  whose 
inhabitants  were  destined  to  play  a  prominent  r&le  and 
become  a  powerful  factor  in  the  later  history  of  Greece. 
This  country,  divided  into  many  basins  by  spurs  which 
branch  off  from  the  higher  mountain  chains,  by  its  moun- 
tain system  not  only  shut  the  people  off  from  the  outside 
world,  but  also  forbade  any  extended  intercourse  between 
the  dwellers  in  the  various  cantons.  The  wide  and  fertile 
valleys,  however,  and  the  mountain  slopes  abounding  in 
extensive  forests,  the  haunts  of  wild  game,  mark  the  land 
as  the  country  of  a  great  people,  who  by  generations  of 
seclusion  were  storing  up  strength  and  vitality  to  be 
of  vast  influence  whenever  they  should  break  through 
their  narrow  confines. 

Such  a  people  dwelt  there,  but  it  required  strong  leaders 
to  bring  them  in  touch  with  the  rich  Hellenic  life  to  the 
south  of  them  and  to  make  them  a  powerful  factor  in 
the  history  of  the  world.  Philip,  lord  of  Macedon,  and 
his  mightier  son,  Alexander,  were  the  great  men  who 
were  to  accomplish  the  work  of  grafting  the  new  blood 

331 


332  WOMAN 

and  energy  of  Macedon  upon  the  decaying  stock  of  Greek 
culture,  and  to  diffuse  the  spirit  of  Hellenism  throughout 
the  civilized  world.  With  them  the  old  order  of  things,  as 
represented  in  Athens  and  Sparta,  passed  away,  and  a 
new  order,  with  new  ideals,  new  motives,  new  views  of 
life,  was  born.  Hence,  the  people  of  Macedon,  them- 
selves Greek  by  race,  have  a  large  place  in  the  considera- 
tion of  any  phase  of  Greek  life.  When  the  Hellenes 
originally  migrated  into  Greece,  a  branch  of  the  race 
found  its  way  into  the  southwestern  part  of  Macedon 
behind  the  barriers  of  Olympus,  and  later,  by  intermix- 
ture with  the  Illyrians  and  other  barbarous  races,  these  in- 
vaders lost  some  of  their  national  characteristics  and,  shut 
off  as  they  were,  failed  to  share  in  the  history  and  de- 
velopment of  their  kinsmen  to  the  south.  In  language, 
in  institutions,  and  in  aspirations,  however,  they  gave 
indisputable  evidence  of  their  right  to  be  considered  as 
members  of  the  great  Hellenic  family. 

The  people  were  a  hardy,  peasant  folk,  devoted  to 
hunting,  to  grazing,  and  to  agriculture,  and  they  preserved 
the  patriarchal  institutions  which  obtained  among  the 
earliest  Greeks.  They  were  divided  into  many  tribes, 
each  with  its  own  chief  and  leader.  Among  some  of  the 
hardier  tribes,  the  man  who  had  not  slain  a  wild  boar  was 
not  allowed  to  recline  at  table  with  the  warriors,  and  not 
to  have  slain  an  enemy  was  regarded  as  a  mark  of  dis- 
grace. In  the  tribal  organization  and  in  the  institution  of 
the  kingship,  we  are  carried  back  to  the  society  of  Homeric 
times,  and  in  manifold  ways  the  public  and  private  life  of 
the  Macedonians  reflects  the  life  portrayed  in  the  Iliad 
and  the  Odyssey. 

Aristotle  remarks  that  the  ancient  kingship  survived 
only  among  the  Spartans,  the  Molossians,  and  the  Mace- 
donians, of  all  the  Greek  peoples;  and  only  among  the  last 


THE  MACEDONIAN  WOMAN  333 

mentioned  did  the  office  retain  all  its  prerogatives.  As  in 
the  Heroic  Age,  so  in  Macedon,  the  king  was  supreme 
judge,  military  commander-in-chief,  and  at  the  head  of 
the  religion  of  the  State.  But  he  was  no  Oriental  despot. 
The  people  were  conscious  of  their  liberty  and  sensi- 
tive as  to  their  rights.  By  the  side  of  the  king  stood  the 
nobles,  who  were  closely  associated  with  him  at  all  times, 
constituting  his  council,  accompanying  him  to  war,  and 
sharing  with  him  his  dangers  and  his  honors.  As  the 
population  was  largely  rural,  there  were  present  none  of 
the  conditions  which  tend  to  nullify  clan  distinctions  and 
create  a  democracy.  The  lines  between  noble  and  peas- 
ant were  very  broad.  Hence,  Macedon  was  essentially  a 
dynastic  State,  and  its  history  is  largely  the  history  of  its 
royal  family.  As  we  have  frequently  noted,  in  monarchies 
woman  is  ever  a  most  influential  factor.  A  king  must 
have  a  court,  and  there  can  be  no  court  without  a  queen. 
The  queen's  life  has  necessarily  its  public,  political,  and 
military  aspects;  and  the  part  she  plays  largely  deter- 
mines the  weal  or  woe  of  both  king  and  people.  Hence 
it  is  with  the  royal  family  of  Macedon,  and  with  those 
queens  and  princesses  who  make  up  a  large  part  of  its 
history,  that  we  are  now  chiefly  concerned. 

The  royal  family  of  Macedon  claimed  descent  from 
members  of  the  ancient  Heracleid  family  of  Argos,  which 
had  taken  refuge  in  the  north;  and  this  descent  was  so 
capable  of  proof,  that,  on  the  basis  of  it,  one  of  the  earlier 
kings  was  admitted  to  the  Olympic  games.  Herodotus, 
the  great  story  teller,  relates  the  incident  of  the  found- 
ing of  the  dynasty.  According  to  his  narration,  three 
brothers  of  the  royal  race  of  Temenus, — the  fourth  in 
descent  from  Heracles, — Gauanes,  Eropus,  and  Perdiccas, 
exiles  from  Argos,  went  into  Illyria,  and  thence  into  upper 
Macedon,  where  they  placed  themselves,  as  herdsmen, 


334  WOMAN 

at  the  service  of  Lebea,  one  of  the  local  kings.  Now,  when 
the  queen  baked  the  bread  for  their  food,  she  always 
noticed  that  the  loaf  destined  for  Perdiccas  doubled  its 
weight;  she  made  this  marvel  known  to  her  husband, 
who  saw  danger  in  it,  and  ordered  the  three  brothers  to 
depart  from  the  country.  They  replied  that  they  would 
go  as  soon  as  they  had  received  their  wages.  Thereupon 
the  king,  who  was  sitting  by  the  hearth,  on  which  fell  sun- 
light through  the  opening  of  the  roof,  as  if  by  divine  inspira- 
tion said  to  the  brothers,  pointing  to  the  light  on  the  floor: 
"I  will  give  you  that;  that  is  your  wages."  Upon  this, 
the  two  elder  brothers  stood  speechless;  but  the  younger, 
who  held  a  knife  in  his  hand,  said:  "Very  well;  we 
accept  it."  And  having  traced  with  his  knife  a  circle  on 
the  floor  surrounding  the  rays,  he  stooped  down  thrice, 
feigning  each  time  to  take  up  the  sunshine  and  place  it  in 
the  folds  of  his  garment  and  to  distribute  it  to  his  brothers; 
after  which,  they  all  went  away.  One  of  those  who  sat 
by  called  the  attention  of  the  king  to  this  conduct  on  the 
part  of  the  young  man,  and  the  manner  in  which  he  ac- 
cepted what  was  offered  him;  and  the  king,  becoming 
anxious  and  angry,  sent  horsemen  to  follow  the  brothers 
and  slay  them.  Now  in  that  country  is  a  river,  to  which 
the  descendants  of  these  Argives  offer  sacrifice  as  to  a 
god.  This  river,  after  the  fugitives  had  crossed  it,  became 
suddenly  so  swollen  that  the  horsemen  dared  not  follow. 
The  brothers  arrived  in  another  part  of  Macedon  and  es- 
tablished themselves  near  the  lake  called  the  Gardens  of 
Midas,  and,  when  they  had  subjugated  the  country  in  those 
parts,  they  went  thence  to  conquer  the  rest  of  Macedon. 

Herodotus  states  that  Perdiccas  I.  founded  the  reigning 
dynasty  in  Macedon,  and  he  mentions  as  his  successors 
Argaeus,  Philip,  Eropus,  Alcetas,  and  Amyntas  I.,  whose 
son,  Alexander  "the  Philhellene,"  the  Greeks  permitted 


THE   MACEDONIAN  WOMAN  335 

to  take  part  in  the  Olympic  games.  This  Alexander  on 
one  occasion  visited  dire  punishment  upon  a  party  of  Per- 
sian envoys  who  at  a  banquet  forgot  the  respect  due  to 
the  ladies  at  the  court  of  Macedon;  he  caused  them  to  be 
assassinated  by  a  company  of  young  men  whom  he  had 
disguised  in  women's  attire.  When  the  Persians  sent  to 
require  the  punishment  of  the  guilty,  Alexander  won  over 
the  envoy  by  giving  him  his  sister  in  marriage. 

This  Alexander,  who  became  king  in  the  year  500  before 
the  Christian  era,  begins  the  series  of  those  Macedonian 
kings  who  felt  the  need  of  Hellenizing  their  people,  and 
his  reign  accordingly  marks  a  turning  point  in  the  history 
of  Macedon.  Perdiccas  II.,  Archelaus  I.,  and  Amyntas  II. 
were  his  successors,  who  continued  this  policy;  but  this 
forced  civilization  by  no  means  reached  the  mass  of  the 
people,  and,  while  it  refined  the  nobility  and  the  court  and 
paved  the  way  for  the  Macedonian  inroads  into  Greece, 
it  also  introduced  luxury  'and  corruption.  Amyntas  II. 
left  three  sons,  Alexander  II.,  Perdiccas  III.,  and  Philip, 
the  last  of  whom  was  the  one  so  well  known  to  fame; 
and  Eurydice,  the  mother  of  these  three  valiant  sons,  was 
the  first  of  that  series  of  remarkable  women,  noted  for 
their  power,  their  beauty,  or  their  crimes,  who  from  this 
time  on  fill  the  annals  of  Macedonian  history. 

In  her  barbarous  instincts,  Eurydice  gives  evidence  of 
the  non-Hellenic  blood  in  her  veins.  Her  career  in  crime 
was  such  as  to  place  her  among  the  Messalinas  and  Lucre- 
zia  Borgias  of  history.  To  begin  with,  she  was  implicated 
in  a  conspiracy  with  a  paramour,  Ptolemasus  of  Alorus, 
against  her  husband's  life;  but  when  the  plot  was  detected, 
she  was,  out  of  regard  for  their  three  sons,  mercifully 
spared  by  her  husband.  Alexander,  the  eldest,  succeeded 
his  father,  but,  after  reigning  two  years,  was  assassinated 
by  Ptolemaeus,  with  his  own  mother  as  an  accomplice  of 


336  WOMAN 

the  murderer.  When  Perdiccas  grew  to  manhood,  he 
avenged  his  brother's  death  and  his  mother's  disgrace  by 
slaying  Ptolemseus;  but  he  himself,  a  few  years  later,  fell 
in  battle  against  the  Illyrians,  or,  as  was  asserted,  at  the 
hand  of  an  assassin  hired  by  his  mother  Eurydice.  Philip, 
the  next  in  succession,  then  ascended  the  throne,  and 
succeeded  in  securing  himself  against  the  attempts  of  his 
mother  and  in  conciliating  all  factions.  Eurydice  then 
disappears  from  the  scene,  and  the  manner  of  her  death 
is  unknown.  Heredity,  without  doubt,  had  much  to  do 
with  the  cruelty  in  Philip's  nature,  and  in  spite  of  her 
crimes  he  seems  to  have  had  much  respect  for  his  sangui- 
nary mother,  for  he  placed  a  figure  of  her  among  the  gold- 
and-ivory  statues  embellishing  the  monument  he  erected  to 
commemorate  his  victory  over  the  Athenians  and  Thebans 
at  Chseronea. 

We  are  not  concerned  here  with  the  rise  of  Philip's 
power  over  Hellas,  nor  with  the  history  of  his  son  Alex- 
ander and  the  empire  he  established,  except  in  so  far  as 
the  spread  of  Hellenism  and  the  union  of  the  world  under 
one  dominion  brought  about  changes  in  social  conditions 
which  affected  the  status  of  woman.  We  shall,  for  the 
present,  confine  our  attention  to  the  consideration  of  those 
women,  chiefly  royal  princesses,  whose  names  group  them- 
selves about  the  careers  of  Philip  and  Alexander  and  their 
immediate  successors,  and  who  by  their  strong  personali- 
ties greatly  influenced  the  course  of  events. 

A  few  general  reflections  will  prepare  us  for  the  sombre 
history  which  we  are  about  to  read.  The  Macedonian 
kings  were,  as  a  rule,  not  content  with  one  wife;  they 
either  kept  concubines,  or  married  a  second  wife,  as  did 
Philip  and  Alexander,  while  the  first  was  living.  This 
practice  led  to  jealousy,  envy,  and  hatred,  and  the  attendant 
ills  of  constant  and  bloody  tragedies  in  the  royal  families. 


THE  MACEDONIAN  WOMAN  337 

We  find  henceforth  a  combination  of  Greek  manners  and 
Macedonian  nature.  In  the  life  of  the  courts,  women 
as  well  as  men,  in  spite  of  their  Greek  culture,  show 
the  Thracian  traits  of  passion  and  cruelty.  Owing  to  the 
intense  respect  in  which  women  were  held,  the  royal 
princesses  occupied  an  exalted  station  and  hence  found 
willing  instruments  for  the  carrying-out  of  their  cruel 
practices.  Every  king  was  either  murdered  or  conspired 
against  by  his  family.  Women  entered  into  matrimonial 
alliances  with  a  view  to  increasing  their  power  and  ex- 
tending their  influence.  Hence,  the  women  who  played 
so  prominent  a  part  in  the  great  struggles  that  attended 
Philip's  extension  of  his  power  over  all  Hellas,  Alexander's 
conquest  of  the  world,  and  the  founding  of  independent 
dynasties  by  the  Diadochi  and  their  descendants,  were 
not  women  who  attained  the  Thucydidean  ideal  of  excel- 
lence; namely,  that  those  are  the  best  women  who  are 
never  mentioned  among  men  for  good  or  for  evil.  They 
were,  on  the  contrary,  powerful  and  haughty  princesses, 
who  possessed  royal  rights  and  privileges,  who  had  re- 
sources of  their  own  in  money  and  soldiery,  who  could 
address  their  troops  with  fiery  speeches  and  go  forth  to 
battle  at  the  head  of  their  armies,  who  made  offers  of 
marriage  to  men,  and  who  finally  got  rid  of  their  rivals 
with  sinister  coolness  and  cruelty. 

Philip  the  Great  followed  the  Oriental  fashion  of  mar- 
rying many  wives;  according  to  Athenaeus,  he  was  con- 
tinually marrying  new  wives  in  war  times,  and  seven 
more  or  less  regular  marriages  are  attributed  to  him.  Of 
his  numerous  wives  or  mistresses,  the  strong-minded 
Olympias  was  the  chief;  and,  as  she  survived  both  her 
husband  Philip  and  her  son  Alexander,  she  played  a 
dominant  part  in  Macedonian  history  and  was  the  most 
prominent  woman  of  those  stormy  times. 


338  WOMAN 

Olympias  was  the  daughter  of  Neoptolemus,  King  of 
Epirus,  who  traced  his  lineage  back  to  Neoptolemus,  son 
of  Achilles.  Philip  is  said  to  have  fallen  in  love  with 
Olympias  while  both  were  being  initiated  into  some  re- 
ligious mysteries  in  Samothrace,  at  a  time  when  he  was 
still  a  stripling  and  she  an  orphan.  He  was  ardent  in  his 
suit,  and,  gaining  the  consent  of  her  brother  Arymbas,  he 
shortly  after  married  her.  We  know  nothing  of  the  first 
few  years  of  their  married  life,  but  the  union  seems  never 
to  have  been  a  happy  one.  Both  were  of  too  decided  indi- 
viduality to  blend  well  together.  Says  President  Wheeler: 
"Both  were  preeminently  ambitious,  energetic,  and  ag- 
gressive; but  while  Philip's  ambition  was  guided  by  a  cool, 
crafty  sagacity,  that  of  his  queen  manifested  itself  in  im- 
petuous outbreaks  of  almost  barbaric  emotion.  In  her, 
joined  a  marvellous  compound  of  the  mother,  the  queen, 
the  shrew,  and  the  witch.  The  passionate  ardor  of  her 
nature  found  its  fullest  expression  in  the  wild  ecstasies 
and  crude  superstitions  of  her  native  religious  rites." 

Plutarch  gives  a  graphic  account  of  the  religious  inten- 
sity of  Olympias's  nature:  "Another  account  is  that  all 
the  women  of  this  country,  having  always  been  addicted 
to  the  Orphic  and  Dionysiac  mystery  rites,  imitated 
largely  the  practices  of  the  Edonian  and  Thracian  women 
about  Mount  Haemus,  and  that  Olympias,  in  her  abnormal 
zeal  to  surround  these  states  of  trance  and  inspiration 
with  more  barbaric  dread,  was  wont  in  the  sacred  dances 
to  have  about  her  great  tame  serpents,  which,  sometimes 
creeping  out  of  the  ivy  and  the  mystic  fans,  and  some- 
times winding  themselves  about  the  staffs  and  the  chaplets 
which  the  women  bore,  presented  a  sight  of  horror  to  the 
men  who  beheld." 

In  Olympias  we  find  all  the  traits  of  character  which 
selfishness  and  love  of  power,  combined  with  intense 


THE   MACEDONIAN  WOMAN  339 

religious  fervor,  could  engender;  and  her  devotion  to 
weird  religious  rites  makes  more  ghastly  the  story  of  her 
life.  With  a  different  husband  she  might  have  been  a 
good  woman,  but  when  two  such  natures  clash  much  evil 
is  bound  to  result.  To  her  young  son,  Alexander,  she  was 
ardently  attached,  and  she  expected  great  things  of  him. 
Just  before  her  marriage  with  Philip  she  dreamed  that  a 
thunderbolt  fell  upon  her  body,  which  kindled  a  great  fire, 
whose  divided  flames  dispersed  themselves  all  about  and 
then  were  extinguished.  This  was  later  regarded  as  a 
presage  of  the  rapid  spread  of  Alexander's  empire  and  its 
ultimate  breaking-up  among  the  Diadochi. 

Philip's  numerous  infidelities  and  marriages  caused  an 
estrangement  between  him  and  Olympias  that  was  far- 
reaching  in  its  consequences.  They  reached  their  culmina- 
tion when  Philip  with  great  ceremony  wedded  Cleopatra, 
a  niece  of  his  general,  Attalus.  At  the  wedding  banquet, 
Attalus,  the  uncle  of  the  bride,  heated  with  wine,  cried  out: 

"  Macedonians,  let  us  pray  the  gods  that  from  this  mar- 
riage may  spring  an  heir  to  the  throne!"  Whereupon, 
Alexander,  who  was  present,  violently  irritated  at  the 
speech,  threw  one  of  the  goblets  at  the  head  of  Attalus 
and  exclaimed:  "You  villain,  what!  Am  I,  then,  a  bas- 
tard?" Philip,  taking  Attalus's  part,  rose  up,  and  would 
have  run  his  son  through  with  his  sword,  but,  overcome 
by  rage  and  by  drink,  he  slipped  and  fell  to  the  floor. 
"  Here  is  a  man,"  scornfully  exclaimed  the  prince,  "pre- 
paring to  cross  from  Europe  into  Asia,  who  is  not  able  to 
step  safely  from  one  table  to  another."  This  incident 
brought  to  a  climax  the  estrangement  between  Philip  and 
his  wife  and  Alexander.  Olympias  and  Alexander  fled,  the 
one  taking  shelter  with  her  brother,  the  King  of  Epirus,  and 
the  other  going  into  Illyria,  where  he  remained  until  a  sort 
of  reconciliation  was  effected  by  the  marriage  of  Philip's 


340  WOMAN 

daughter,  Cleopatra,  with  the  Epirote  king.  When  Philip 
was  assassinated,  suspicions  of  complicity  in  the  murder 
attached  to  both  Olympias  and  Alexander.  The  young 
man's  conduct  fully  acquits  him  of  the  crime,  but  it  would 
not  be  strange  if  the  mother,  seeking  her  own  vengeance 
and  her  son's  preferment,  should  have  abetted  the  youth 
Pausanias,  who  committed  the  deed. 

Olympias  could  not  brook  any  rivals,  and  shortly  after 
the  murder  of  Philip  she  despatched  that  king's  last  wife, 
Cleopatra,  and  her  infant  son.  Throughout  Alexander's 
brilliant  but  short-lived  career,  Olympias  remained  in 
Macedon,  exercising  a  queenly  power.  She  and  her  son 
seem  to  have  been  bound  by  the  closest  ties  of  affection 
and  respect.  With  Antipater,  however,  who  had  been 
left  behind  by  Alexander  to  govern  Macedon  in  his  ab- 
sence, she  was  continually  falling  out.  Plutarch  gives 
an  interesting  account  of  the  intimate  relations  between 
mother  and  son  and  of  the  quarrels  between  the  old  queen 
and  the  regent: 

"How  magnificent  he,  Alexander,  was  in  enriching  his 
friends  appears  by  a  letter  which  Olympias  wrote  to  him, 
where  she  tells  him  he  should  reward  those  about  him  in 
a  more  moderate  way.  She  said:  'For  now  you  make 
them  all  equal  to  kings,  you  give  them  power  and  oppor- 
tunity of  making  many  friends  of  their  own,  and  in  the 
meantime  you  leave  yourself  destitute.'  She  often  wrote 
to  him  to  this  purpose.  To  her  he  sent  many  presents, 
but  would  never  suffer  her  to  meddle  with  matters  of  State 
or  war,  not  indulging  her  busy  temper;  and  when  she  fell 
out  with  him  on  this  account,  he  bore  her  ill  humor  very 
patiently.  Nay,  more,  when  he  read  a  long  letter  from 
Antipater,  full  of  accusations  against  her,  '  Antipater,'  he 
said,  '  does  not  know  that  one  tear  of  a  mother  effaces  a 
thousand  such  letters  as  these.' 


THE  MACEDONIAN  WOMAN  341 

"The  tidings  of  the  difficulties  he  had  gone  through  in 
his  Indian  expedition  had  begun  to  give  occasion  for  revolt 
among  many  of  the  conquered  nations,  and  for  acts  of  great 
injustice,  avarice,  and  insolence  on  the  part  of  satraps  and 
commanders.  Even  at  home,  Olympias  and  her  daugh- 
ter Cleopatra  had  raised  a  faction  against  Antipater  and 
divided  his  government  between  them — Olympias  seizing 
upon  Epirus,  and  Cleopatra  upon  Macedon.  When  Alex- 
ander was  told  of  it,  he  said  his  mother  had  made  the  best 
choice,  for  the  Macedonians  would  never  consent  to  be 
ruled  by  a  woman." 

Upon  the  death  of  Alexander,  Olympias  espoused  with 
great  devotion  the  cause  of  her  daughter-in-law  Roxana 
and  the  young  Alexander  against  the  intrigues  of  the  gen- 
erals, and  she  did  everything  in  her  power  to  maintain 
their  rights  in  opposition  to  the  cold  and  calculating  Cas- 
sander.  Diodorus  gives  a  graphic  account  of  her  last  days: 

"As  soon  as  Olympias  heard  that  Cassander  was  enter- 
ing Macedonia  with  a  large  army,  she,  taking  with  her  the 
son  of  Alexander  and  his  mother  Roxana,  and  other  kindred 
and  eminent  relations,  entered  the  town  of  Pydna.  Neither 
was  there  provision  in  that  place  sufficient  for  such  a  mul- 
titude to  hold  out  any  long  siege.  Yet  she  was  resolved 
to  stay  here,  expecting  many  Greeks  and  Macedonians  to 
come  in  to  her  assistance  by  sea.  Now  spring  came  on, 
and  the  famine  increased  every  day,  whereupon  most  of 
the  soldiers  came  up  in  a  body  and  entreated  Olympias  to 
suffer  them  to  leave  the  place  because  of  the  scarcity, 
who,  not  being  able  to  supply  them  with  bread,  let  them 
go.  At  length  Olympias,  perceiving  that  many  went  over 
to  Cassander,  without  delay  got  ready  a  galley  of  five 
oars  with  a  design  to  rescue  herself  and  her  kindred;  but 
being  discovered  to  the  enemy  by  some  of  the  deserters, 
Cassander  sailed  to  the  place  and  seized  the  vessel. 


342  WOMAN 

Whereupon  Olympias  sent  a  herald  to  Cassander  to  treat 
upon  terms  of  pacification,  but  he  insisted  upon  the  deliv- 
ering up  of  herself  to  his  mercy;  she  at  length  prevailed 
only  for  the  preservation  of  her  person.  He  then  incited 
the  relations  of  such  as  were  put  to  death  by  Olympias  to 
prosecute  her  in  the  general  assembly  of  the  Macedonians, 
who  readily  complied  with  what  they  were  desired  to  do; 
and  though  she  herself  was  not  then  present,  nor  had  any 
person  there  to  plead  her  cause,  yet  the  Macedonians  con- 
demned her  to  die.  Cassander  therefore  sent  some  of  his 
friends  to  Olympias  and  advised  her  to  get  out  of  the  way, 
and  promised  to  procure  for  her  a  ship  and  to  cause  her  to 
be  conveyed  safely  to  Athens.  He  did  not  do  this  for  her 
preservation,  but  that,  as  one  confessing  her  own  guilt  by 
her  flight,  it  might  be  judged  a  just  vengeance  upon  her 
if  she  was  cut  off  as  she  was  on  her  voyage;  for  he  was 
afraid  as  well  of  the  fickle  disposition  of  the  Macedonians  as 
of  the  dignity  of  her  person.  But  Olympias  refused  to  fly, 
and  said  she  was  ready  to  defend  her  cause  before  all  the 
Macedonians.  Cassander  therefore,  fearing  lest  the  people 
should  change  their  minds  and  so  take  upon  them  to  defend 
the  queen,  sent  to  her  a  band  of  two  hundred  soldiers 
with  orders  to  despatch  her  forthwith,  who,  rushing  on  a 
sudden  into  the  palace,  as  soon  as  they  saw  her,  in  rever- 
ence to  her  person,  drew  back  without  executing  the  com- 
mand. But  the  kindred  of  those  she  had  put  to  death, 
both  to  ingratiate  themselves  with  Cassander,  and  like- 
wise to  gratify  their  own  revenge  for  the  death  of  their 
relations,  cut  her  throat,  she  not  in  the  least  crying  out  in 
any  womanish  terror  or  fear  to  spare  her.  In  this  manner 
died  Olympias,  the  greatest  and  most  honorable  woman  in 
the  age  wherein  she  lived,  daughter  of  Neoptolemus,  King 
of  Epirus;  sister  of  Pyrrhus,  who  made  the  expedition 
into  Italy;  wife  of  Philip,  the  greatest  and  most  victorious 


THE   MACEDONIAN  WOMAN  343 

prince  of  all  that  ever  lived  before  in  Europe;  and  lastly 
the  mother  of  Alexander,  who  never  was  exceeded  by  any 
for  the  many  great  and  wonderful  things  that  were  done 
by  him." 

So  Olympias  showed  herself  in  her  death,  as  in  her 
life,  every  inch  a  queen;  and,  in  spite  of  her  temper  and 
her  bloodthirstiness,  she  deserves  a  high  place  in  the  his- 
tory of  womanhood,  because  of  her  untiring  devotion  to 
her  son  and  to  his  helpless  widow  and  child  against  the 
machinations  of  cruel  and  powerful  men. 

Philip  had  three  daughters  who  appear  prominently  in 
Macedonian  history:  Cynane,  by  an  Illyrian  princess,  who 
figures  in  the  history  of  her  daughter  Eurydice,  which  we 
shall  recount  later;  Thessalonica,  whom  Cassander  mar- 
ried after  he  had  slain  Olympias  and  all  the  heirs  of  Alex- 
ander, and  after  whom  he  named  the  famous  city  which 
he  built;  and  Cleopatra,  full  sister  of  Alexander,  who  was 
first  married  to  her  uncle,  Alexander,  King  of  Epirus, 
murdered  in  Italy  while  he  was  trying  to  subdue  the 
West.  The  young  Princess  Cleopatra  was  left  a  widow  in 
good  time  to  enter  upon  a  career  in  the  stormy  days  that 
followed  the  death  of  the  world-monarch.  She  returned  to 
Macedon,  and  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  she  and  her 
mother  Olympias  were  both  of  violent  tempers,  and  fre- 
quently quarrelled,  yet  their  interests  were  too  closely 
united  to  permit  any  permanent  estrangement.  Her  claims 
to  the  throne  were  the  strongest,  next  to  those  of  the 
infant  Alexander,  and,  in  consequence,  she  was  much 
sought  after  in  marriage,  and  had  her  choice  of  almost  all 
the  distinguished  men  of  the  time.  She  regarded  marriage 
as  a  legitimate  weapon  of  diplomacy  to  advance  her  inter- 
ests and  to  increase  her  influence.  Yet  a  sad  fatality 
seemed  to  attach  to  the  men  whom  she  proposed  to  honor 
with  her  hand.  She  first  chose,  probably  from  ardent 


344  WOMAN 

affection,  Leonnatus,  one  of  the  most  gallant  of  Alexan- 
der's generals,  but  he  was  killed  while  assisting  Antipater 
before  Lamia.  Her  mother  then  offered  her  hand  to  Per- 
diccas,  when  he  became  regent,  and  he  gladly  accepted; 
but  before  the  nuptials  were  celebrated,  he  was  slain  in 
an  attack  on  Egypt.  Had  the  loyal  Eumenes  been  vic- 
torious in  his  long  struggle  against  Antigonus,  Cleopatra 
would  doubtless  have  married  him,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that 
he  was  not  of  royal  blood.  She  then  resided  for  fifteen 
years  in  Sardis,  amid  all  the  pomp  and  luxury  naturally 
attending  so  noble  and  beautiful  a  princess,  and  became 
the  object  of  intrigue  among  the  rival  generals.  Old 
Antipater,  when  appointed  regent,  accused  her  of  treason 
and  sedition;  but  she  publicly  defended  herself,  in  their 
native  tongue,  before  the  Macedonian  soldiers,  and  so  great 
was  the  influence  she  exerted  over  them  that  Antipater 
wisely  concluded  to  withdraw  the  charge,  and  harassed  her 
no  further.  At  last,  however,  at  Sardis,  she  fell  into  the 
power  of  her  old  enemy,  Antigonus.  Realizing  her  peril, 
this  redoubtable  princess,  although  past  fifty,  was  planning 
escape  and  flight  to  Egypt  to  marry  Ptolemy,  who  had 
already  two  wives  and  grown-up  children.  To  prevent  this 
marriage  of  the  queen  with  his  strongest  rival,  Antigonus 
put  her  to  death. 

Cleopatra  manifested  the  same  strength  of  personality 
and  independence  of  character  as  her  mother  Olym- 
pias,  and  she  had,  in  addition,  all  the  advantages  of  edu- 
cation and  culture  which  would  naturally  accrue  to  the 
sister  of  Alexander.  She  differed  most  strongly  from  her 
mother  and  other  Macedonian  princesses  of  the  day,  in 
that  no  murders  could  be  laid  at  her  door. 

When  we  come  to  Cynane,  the  third  daughter  of  Philip, 
we  find  another  type  of  womanhood.  She  showed  her 
Illyrian  blood  in  her  fondness  for  outdoor  exercise,  being 


THE   MACEDONIAN  WOMAN  345 

a  skilled  horsewoman,  and  she  would  even  enter  into 
battle  at  the  head  of  her  troops.  She  was  first  married 
by  Philip  to  her  cousin  Amyntas.  Left  a  widow,  she  de- 
voted herself  to  the  education  of  her  daughter,  Eurydice, 
whom  she  trained  in  the  same  martial  exercises  for  which 
she  herself  was  famous.  When  Philip  Arrhidasus,  the 
imbecile  half-brother  of  Alexander,  son  of  a  female  dancer, 
Philinna  of  Larissa,  was  proclaimed  joint  heir  with  the 
posthumous  son  of  Roxana  to  Alexander's  dominions, 
Cynane  determined  to  marry  him  to  her  daughter,  and 
started  over  to  Asia  to  accomplish  this  end.  As  her  influ- 
ence was  great,  Perdiccas  and  Antipater  determined  to 
forestall  such  a  contingency  by  the  murder  of  the  mother, 
and  Perdiccas  sent  his  brother  Alcetas  to  meet  her  on 
the  way  and  put  her  to  death.  By  her  valor  and  her 
eloquence,  however,  she  won  over  the  Macedonian  war- 
riors, so  that  the  schemes  of  the  generals  could  not  be 
publicly  carried  out;  but,  in  defiance  of  the  feelings  of  the 
soldiery,  Alcetas  secretly  consummated  the  ruthless  plot, 
and  Cynane  met  her  doom  with  dauntless  spirit.  After 
the  death  of  the  mother,  the  discontent  of  the  Macedonian 
troops  and  the  respect  with  which  they  looked  on  Eurydice, 
as  one  of  the  few  surviving  members  of  the  royal  house, 
induced  Perdiccas  not  only  to  spare  Eurydice's  life,  but 
also  to  give  her  in  marriage  to  the  unhappy  King  Philip 
Arrhidasus,  whose  weakened  intellectual  powers  were  due 
to  the  drugs  of  Olympias — the  queen  who  never  ceased  to 
wreak  her  vengeance  upon  her  rivals  in  Philip's  affections 
and  upon  their  ill-fated  offspring. 

Then  began  the  long  and  bitter  struggle  for  mastery 
between  the  new  queen,  Eurydice,  and  the  old  queen, 
Olympias,  who  took  the  part  of  Roxana  and  her  son;  and 
only  the  superior  claims  of  Olympias,  as  the  mother  of 
Alexander,  to  the  respect  of  the  Macedonian  soldiery  led 


346  WOMAN 

to  her  final  victory  over  her  gifted  and  powerful  rival. 
These  hostile  factions  in  the  royal  party  of  Macedon 
were  to  lead  to  the  extinction  of  all  the  legitimate  heirs 
to  the  throne.  After  the  death  of  her  mortal  enemy 
Antipater,  Eurydice  determined  to  make  an  active  cam- 
paign against  his  successor,  the  less  able  Polysperchon, 
who  had  allied  himself  with  Olympias.  She  therefore  con- 
cluded an  alliance  with  Cassander,  assembled  an  army, 
and  took  the  field  in  person.  Polysperchon  marched 
against  her,  accompanied  by  Olympias  and  Roxana,  with 
the  young  Alexander,  and  the  presence  of  Olympias 
decided  the  day. 

"  As  the  troops  of  Alcetas  would  not  fight  against  her 
and  Cynane,  so  the  troops  of  Eurydice  deserted  her  when 
she  led  them  against  the  queen-mother.  It  was  the  mo- 
ment when  Olympias's  pent-up  fury  burst  out  after  many 
years.  Amid  her  orgies  of  murder  and  of  disentombing 
her  enemies,  she  was  not  likely  to  spare  the  offspring  of 
Philip's  faithlessness;  for  Philip  Arrhidaeus  was  the  son  of 
a  Thessalian  dancing  girl,  and  Eurydice  the  granddaughter 
of  an  Illyrian  savage.  She  shut  them  up,  and  meant  to  kill 
them  by  gradual  starvation.  But  her  people  began  to  ex- 
postulate, and  then,  having  had  Philip  shot  by  Thracians, 
she  sent  Eurydice  the  sword,  the  halter,  and  the  hemlock, 
to  take  her  choice.  But  she,  praying  that  Olympias  might 
receive  the  same  gifts,  composed  the  limbs  of  her  husband, 
and  washed  his  wounds  as  best  she  could,  and  then,  with- 
out one  word  of  complaint  at  her  fate,  or  the  greatness  of 
her  misfortune,  hanged  herself  with  the  halter.  If  these 
women  knew  not  how  to  live,  they  knew  how  to  die." 

A  word  must  be  said  about  Alexander  the  Great  and 
his  relations  with  the  fair  sex;  for  notwithstanding  the 
fact  that  in  Alexander's  career  Persian  woman  plays 
the  chief  r61e,  yet  it  was  by  breaking  down  the  barriers 


THE   MACEDONIAN  WOMAN  347 

between  Greek  and  Barbarian,  between  Occidental  and 
Oriental,  that  the  way  was  prepared  for  the  larger  freedom 
of  woman  in  succeeding  generations;  and  in  his  younger 
days,  before  becoming  a  world-conqueror,  Alexander  was 
greatly  influenced  by  certain  women  of  his  household.  We 
have  already  spoken  of  his  ardent  affection  and  respect  for 
his  queen-mother.  He  also  had  in  his  childhood  a  nurse, 
Lanice,  to  whom  he  was  devotedly  attached.  "  He  loved 
her  as  a  mother,"  says  an  ancient  writer.  Her  sons  gave 
their  lives  in  battle  for  him,  and  her  one  brother,  Clitus, 
who  had  once  rescued  him  from  imminent  death,  was 
later  slain  by  Alexander's  own  hand  in  a  fit  of  anger. 
This  deed  occasioned  the  conqueror  infinite  regret  and 
remorse,  and  Arrian  tells  graphically  how,  as  he  tossed 
weeping  on  his  bed  of  repentance,  "he  kept  calling  the 
name  of  Clitus  and  the  name  of  Lanice,  Clitus's  sister, 
who  nursed  and  reared  him — Lanice  the  daughter  of 
Dropides, — '  Fair  return  I  have  made  in  manhood's  years 
for  thy  nurture  and  care — thou  who  hast  seen  thy  sons 
die  fighting  in  my  behalf;  and  now  I  have  slain  thy  brother 
with  mine  own  hand!'  " 

Another  friend  of  his  youth  was  a  lady  of  noble  birth,  by 
name  Ada,  whom  he  dignified  with  the  title  of  "mother," 
and  later  established  as  Queen  of  Caria.  Plutarch  tells 
how,  as  a  friendly  attention,  she  used  to  send  him  daily 
not  only  all  sorts  of  meats  and  cakes,  but  finally  went  so 
far  as  to  send  him  the  cleverest  cooks  and  bakers  she 
could  find,  though,  owing  to  the  rigid  training  of  his  tutor, 
he  was  extremely  temperate  in  eating  and  drinking  and 
did  not  avail  himself  of  her  indulgence. 

Alexander  was  ever  considerate  of  women,  even  when 
these  were  taken  captive  in  battle,  and  Plutarch  tells  an 
interesting  story  of  his  treatment  of  a  noble  lady  of  Thebes, 
when  he  had  captured  and  was  about  to  raze  that  city: 


348  WOMAN 

"Among  the  other  calamities  that  befell  the  city,  it 
happened  that  some  Thracian  soldiers  having  broken  into 
the  house  of  a  matron  of  high  character  and  repute,  named 
Timycha,  their  captain,  after  he  had  used  violence  with 
her,  to  satisfy  his  avarice  as  well  as  lust,  asked  her  if  she 
knew  of  any  money  concealed,  to  which  she  readily  an- 
swered she  did,  and  bade  him  follow  her  into  a  garden, 
where  she  showed  him  a  well,  into  which,  she  told  him, 
upon  the  taking  of  the  city  she  had  thrown  what  she  had 
of  the  most  value.  The  greedy  Thracian  presently  stoop- 
ing down  to  view  the  place  where  he  thought  the  treasure 
lay,  she  came  behind  him  and  pushed  him  into  the  well, 
and  then  flung  great  stones  in  upon  him  till  she  had  killed 
him.  After  which,  when  the  soldiers  led  her  away  bound 
to  Alexander,  her  very  mien  and  gait  showed  her  to  be  a 
woman  of  dignity  and  of  a  mind  no  less  elevated.  And 
when  the  king  asked  her  who  she  was,  '  I  am,'  she  said, 
'  the  sister  of  Theagenes  who  fought  the  battle  of  Chaero- 
nea  with  your  father  Philip,  and  fell  there  in  command  for 
the  liberty  of  Greece.'  Alexander  was  so  surprised,  both 
at  what  she  had  done  and  what  she  said,  that  he  could  not 
choose  but  give  her  and  her  children  their  liberty." 

In  the  evil  fortunes  of  the  princesses  of  Macedon  the 
Persian  wives  of  Alexander  shared.  Roxana,  the  daugh- 
ter of  a  Bactrian  satrap,  whose  youthfulness  and  beauty 
charmed  him  at  a  drinking  entertainment,  was  the  first 
of  his  wives.  Later,  in  celebrating  at  Susa  the  union  of 
Europe  and  Asia  by  the  marriage  of  his  Greek  officers  to 
Persian  maidens,  he  himself  wedded  Statira,  the  daughter 
of  Darius.  "After  Alexander's  death,  Roxana,"  says  Plu- 
tarch, "who  was  now  with  child,  and  upon  that  account 
much  honored  by  the  Macedonians,  being  jealous  of  Sta- 
tira, sent  for  her  by  a  counterfeit  letter,  as  if  Alexander 
had  still  been  alive;  and  when  she  had  her  in  her  power, 


THE   MACEDONIAN  WOMAN  349 

killed  her  and  her  sister  and  threw  their  babies  into  a  well 
which  they  filled  up  with  earth,  not  without  the  assistance 
of  Perdiccas,  who  in  the  time  immediately  following  the 
king's  death,  under  cover  of  the  name  of  Arrhidaeus,  whom 
he  carried  about  with  him  as  a  sort  of  guard  to  his  person, 
exercised  the  chief  authority."  There  is  no  more  tragic 
story  than  that  of  the  fate  of  the  young  Alexander  and  his 
mother.  Olympias,  the  grandmother,  warmly  espoused 
the  youth's  cause,  but  his  existence  was  a  menace  to  the 
ambitions  of  the  rival  generals.  Cassander  finally  seized 
the  power  in  Macedon  and  obtained  possession  of  Roxana 
and  her  son,  whom  he  confined  in  the  fortress  of  Am- 
phipolis  and  later  caused  to  be  secretly  assassinated  by 
the  governor  of  the  fortress. 

After  the  murder  of  Roxana  and  her  son,  a  movement 
was  made  to  raise  to  the  throne  Heracles,  son  of  Darius's 
daughter,  Barsine,  he  being  the  sole  surviving  offspring  of 
Alexander,  though  a  bastard;  but  Cassander,  perceiving 
the  danger,  conspired  for  the  destruction  of  the  young 
prince,  and  the  latter  was  poisoned  or  strangled  by  the 
treacherous  Polysperchon.  His  mother,  who  lived  with 
him  at  Pergamum,  was  also  secretly  put  to  death.  So 
perished  by  violent  death  all  the  women  of  the  family  of 
Philip  and  Alexander,  except  Thessalonica,  who  became 
the  wife  of  Cassander,  the  destroyer  of  her  mother  and 
her  half-sisters. 

On  the  death  of  Alexander,  his  generals  began  the  task 
of  establishing  independent  dominions.  They  were  sur- 
rounded by  a  group  of  princesses  who  added  to  the  interest 
and  liveliness  of  the  court  society  of  the  times.  These 
generals  and  their  sons,  in  spite  of  their  bitter  rivalries  and 
constant  wars,  eagerly  sought  family  alliances  with  each 
other,  such  as  would  in  any  way  increase  their  prestige. 


350  WOMAN 

Hence,  the  princesses  who  were  thus  in  demand  were 
expected  to  take  a  part  in  the  game  of  politics  and  diplo- 
macy; and  frequent  marriages  fell  to  the  lot  of  many  of 
them,  as  husbands  were  ofttimes  either  slain  or  murdered, 
and  divorces  were  readily  obtained  for  the  slightest  reasons 
of  State.  The  marriage  tie  seems  to  have  been  regarded 
with  but  little  sanctity;  and  no  bonds  were  forbidden  be- 
cause of  relationship  or  of  family  feuds.  Cratesipolis,  for 
instance,  was  the  wife  of  Alexander,  son  of  the  titular 
regent  Polysperchon;  and  at  Alexander's  death,  the  father 
married  his  son's  widow.  She  had  a  thrilling  career,  and 
was  famous  not  only  for  her  warlike  qualities,  but  also  for 
her  goodness  of  heart  and  kindness  to  the  poor.  Her  first 
husband  was  Tyrant  of  Sicyon,  and  at  his  death  she  seized 
the  reins  of  power.  The  citizens,  despising  her  because 
she  was  a  woman,  revolted;  but  she  met  them  in  battle, 
herself  commanding  her  troops,  and  defeated  them  and 
crucified  the  thirty  ringleaders  of  the  revolt.  Thus  she 
established  her  power. 

Of  all  the  princesses  of  this  stormy  period,  the  one  who 
ranks  as  the  noblest  and  most  virtuous  woman  of  her  age 
was  Phila,  daughter  of  Antipater  and  wife  of  Demetrius 
the  Besieger,  son  of  Antigonus — the  Alcibiades  among  the 
princes  of  the  Succession.  She  shared  with  her  brilliant 
husband  his  various  vicissitudes  of  fortune;  and  she  bore 
uncomplainingly  his  many  infidelities,  his  disgraces,  and 
his  misfortunes.  When,  after  an  erratic  career  of  suc- 
cesses and  failures,  he  was  made  King  of  Macedon,  she 
no  doubt  attained  the  height  of  her  desires.  But  his 
ambition  soared  higher,  and  he  endeavored  to  organize  a 
movement  to  reconquer  and  embrace  under  his  exclusive 
rule  the  whole  extent  of  the  empire  of  Alexander.  He 
was  unsuccessful;  and  after  seven  years  of  power  as 
King  of  Macedon,  he  was  expelled  from  his  kingdom  and 


THE   MACEDONIAN  WOMAN  351 

was  compelled  to  flee  for  his  life  to  the  Peloponnesus.  The 
blow  was  too  severe  for  his  noble-hearted  wife,  and  Phila 
poisoned  herself  when  she  thought  his  ruin  inevitable. 
She  left  two  children  by  Demetrius  who  became  promi- 
nent in  the  politics  of  the  times — Antigonus  Gonatas, 
who  stood  nobly  by  his  father  in  his  misfortunes,  and  who 
finally  became  King  of  Macedon  and  was  the  first  of  that 
famous  line  of  kings  which  became  extinct  only  at  the 
hands  of  the  Romans;  and  Stratonice,  who  at  the  tender 
age  of  seventeen  was  married  to  the  aged  Seleucus,  King 
of  Syria. 

Plutarch  tells  an  interesting  story  of  this  princess.  An- 
tiochus,  son  of  Seleucus,  fell  violently  ill,  and  it  was 
difficult  for  the  royal  physicians  to  discover  the  nature 
of  the  malady.  Finally,  the  cleverest  of  them  observed 
that  when  Stratonice,  the  prince's  young  stepmother,  was 
present,  he  exhibited  all  the  symptoms  mentioned  by 
Sappho  in  her  famous  ode,^-"his  ears  rang,  sweat  poured 
down  his  forehead,  a  trembling  seized  his  body,  he  became 
paler  than  grass."  The  physician  at  once  perceived  that 
Antiochus  was  sick  for  love  of  the  queen.  The  wily 
physician,  however,  in  explaining  to  Seleucus  the  nature 
of  the  malady,  pretended  at  first  that  it  was  his  own  wife 
with  whom  the  prince  was  in  love;  but,  so  soon  as  he 
fully  ascertained  the  king's  mind,  he  told  him  that  his  son 
was  dying  for  love  of  his  stepmother,  the  beautiful  Strato- 
nice. Without  a  moment's  hesitation,  the  old  king  resigned 
his  wife  to  his  son  and  gave  them  an  independent  kingdom 
as  a  wedding  present. 

It  is  rather  a  remarkable  society  of  queens  and  prin- 
cesses to  which  the  court  of  Macedon  admits  us, — the 
licentious  and  cruel  Eurydice  the  Elder,  mother  of  Philip; 
the  gloomy  and  violent  Olympias;  the  brilliant  and  ver- 
satile Cleopatra;  the  valiant  and  eloquent  Cynane  and 


352  WOMAN 

her  warlike  and  ambitious  daughter  Eurydice;  the  rather 
colorless  and  ill-fated  wives  of  Alexander  the  Great;  the 
kind-hearted  Cratesipolis;  the  unselfish  and  noble  Phila; 
and  her  beautiful  daughter  Stratonice. 

The  court  life  of  which  they  formed  a  part  had  its  bril- 
liant side,  with  its  veneering  of  Greek  culture  and  much 
of  the  etiquette  and  ceremony  of  an  Oriental  monarchy, 
and  they  were  the  objects  of  all  the  respect  with  which 
high  station  endows  royal  women  at  the  hands  of  courtiers 
and  gallant  soldiers.  But  one  is  apt  to  think  rather  of  the 
storm  and  turmoil  through  which  they  passed,  of  their 
jealousies  and  intrigues,  of  their  marriages  and  alliances, 
and  of  the  violent  deaths  which  they  all,  with  one  or  two 
exceptions,  found  at  last.  Yet,  the  most  wicked  of  them 
had  redeeming  qualities;  even  Olympias,  who  sent  num- 
berless men  to  death,  was  devoted  to  her  own  children, 
and  fought  to  the  bitter  end  for  the  rights  of  her  son's 
heirs;  and  Eurydice  the  Younger,  who  carried  on  the 
losing  battle  with  the  aged  queen,  was  ever  the  zealous 
wife  of  her  weak  husband,  Arrhidaeus.  Phila  stands 
out,  however,  amid  this  remarkable  group,  as  the  one 
against  whom  nothing  can  be  said  and  whose  virtues  were 
preeminent — the  ever-faithful  and  devoted  wife  of  the 
most  brilliant  and  most  licentious  man  of  his  time. 

A  history  of  Greek  womanhood  would  not  be  complete, 
did  it  not  somewhere  in  the  volume  consider  the  story  of 
two  Greek  queens  noted  for  their  beauty,  their  wisdom  in 
counsels,  and  their  valor  in  war,  and  withal  for  their  de- 
voted love, — the  two  Artemisias,  Queens  of  Caria.  The 
first  flourished  during  the  Persian  Wars,  in  which  she 
took  a  prominent  part;  the  second,  a  century  later,  and 
her  name  is  closely  identified  with  the  names  of  many 
members  of  the  Hellenistic  royal  families  and  with  the 
later  history  of  Greek  art.  Hence  we  feel  justified  in 


THE   MACEDONIAN  WOMAN  353 

appending  the  account  to  this  chapter  discussing  the  careers 
of  Hellenistic  princesses. 

Herodotus  delights  to  praise  the  first  Artemisia's  queen- 
liness  and  wisdom,  and  the  only  fault  he  has  to  find  with 
her  is  that  she  fought  on  the  Persian  side.  He  dwells 
on  her  story  whenever  the  occasion  offers,  and  we  shall 
be  pardoned  for  permitting  the  great  story  teller  to  sketch 
the  account  of  her  career: 

"  Of  the  rest  of  the  officers  [of  the  Persian  fleet]  I  make 
no  mention,  but  only  of  Artemisia,  at  whom  I  marvel  most 
that  she  joined  the  expedition  against  Hellas,  being  a 
woman,  for  after  her  husband  died,  she,  holding  the  power 
herself,  although  she  had  a  son  who  was  a  young  man, 
went  on  the  expedition,  impelled  by  high  spirit  and  manly 
courage,  no  necessity  being  laid  upon  her;  and  she  was 
the  daughter  of  Lygdamus,  and  by  descent  she  was  of 
Halicarnassus,  on  the  side  of  her  father,  but  of  Crete  by 
her  mother.  She  was  ruler  of  the  men  of  Halicarnassus, 
Cos,  Nisyrus,  and  Calynda,  furnishing  five  ships,  and  she 
furnished  ships  which  were  of  all  the  fleet  reputed  the 
best  after  those  of  the  Sidonians;  and  of  all  his  allies  she 
set  forth  the  best  counsels  to  the  king.  Of  the  States  of 
which  I  said  she  was  the  leader,  I  declare  the  people  to  be 
all  of  Dorian  race." 

After  the  disaster  to  the  Persian  fleet  at  Artemisium, 
King  Xerxes  was  in  doubt  as  to  his  future  policy.  He 
knew  that  the  Greeks  had  gathered  a  great  fleet  at  Sala- 
mis,  and,  after  sacking  Athens,  his  own  naval  strength 
was  being  collected  in  the  Saronic  Gulf.  The  problem  was 
whether  to  make  a  naval  engagement,  and  accordingly 
"Xerxes  sent  Mardonius  and  inquired,  making  trial  of 
each  one,  whether  he  should  fight  a  battle  by  sea.  So 
when  Mardonius  went  round  asking  them,  the  others  gave 
their  opinions,  all  to  the  same  effect,  advising  him  to  fight 


354  WOMAN 

a  battle  by  sea,  but  Artemisia  spoke  these  words:  '  Tell 
the  king  that  I,  who  have  proved  myself  to  be  not  the 
worst  in  the  sea  fights  which  have  been  fought  near 
Euboea,  and  have  displayed  deeds  not  inferior  to  those  of 
others,  speak  to  him  thus:  "Master,  it  is  right  that  I  set 
forth  the  opinion  that  I  really  have  and  say  that  which 
I  happen  to  think  best  for  thy  cause;  and  this  I  say — 
spare  thy  ships  and  do  not  make  a  sea  fight;  for  their  men 
are  as  much  stronger  than  thy  men  by  sea,  as  men  are 
stronger  than  women.  And  why  must  thou  needs  run 
the  risk  of  sea  battles?  If,  however,  thou  hasten  to  fight 
forthwith,  I  fear  that  damage  done  to  the  fleet  may  ruin 
the  land  army  also.  Moreover,  O  king,  consider  also  this, 
that  the  servants  of  good  men  are  apt  to  grow  bad,  and 
thou,  who  art  of  all  men  the  best,  hast  bad  servants, 
namely  those  who  are  reckoned  as  allies,  Egyptians, 
Cyprians,  and  Cilicians,  in  whom  there  is  no  profit."  ' 
When  she  thus  spoke,  those  who  were  friendly  to  Arte- 
misia were  grieved  at  her  words,  supposing  that  she  would 
suffer  some  evil  from  the  king;  while  those  who  had  envy 
and  jealousy  of  her,  because  she  had  been  honored  above 
all  the  allies,  were  rejoiced  at  the  opposition,  supposing 
that  she  would  now  be  ruined.  When,  however,  the 
opinions  were  reported  to  Xerxes,  he  was  greatly  pleased 
with  the  opinion  of  Artemisia;  and  whereas  even  before 
this  he  thought  her  excellent,  he  commended  her  now  yet 
more." 

Xerxes,  however,  did  not  follow  the  counsel  of  Arte- 
misia, but  was  persuaded  to  attack  the  fleet  of  the  Greeks. 
Artemisia  entered  most  valiantly  into  the  sea  fight,  which 
very  soon  began  to  be  disastrous  to  the  Persians. 

"When  the  affairs  of  the  king  had  come  to  great  con- 
fusion, at  this  crisis  the  ship  of  Artemisia  was  being 
pursued  by  an  Athenian  ship;  and  as  she  was  not  able  to 


THE   MACEDONIAN  WOMAN  355 

escape,  for  in  front  of  her  were  other  ships  of  her  own 
side,  while  her  ship  was  further  advanced  toward  the 
enemy,  she  resolved  what  she  would  do.  She  charged 
in  full  career  against  a  ship  of  her  own  side  manned  by 
Calyndians  and  in  which  the  King  of  the  Calyndians  was 
embarked.  Now  though  even  it  be  true  that  she  had  had 
some  strife  with  him  before  while  they  were  still  about 
the  Hellespont,  yet  I  am  not  able  to  say  whether  she  did 
this  by  intuition  or  whether  the  Calyndian  ship  happened 
by  chance  to  fall  in  her  way.  Having  charged  against  it 
and  sunk  it,  she  enjoyed  good  fortune  and  got  for  herself 
good  in  two  ways;  for  first  the  captain  of  the  Athenian 
ship,  when  he  saw  her  charge  against  a  ship  manned  by 
barbarians,  turned  away  and  went  after  others,  supposing 
that  the  ship  of  Artemisia  was  either  a  Hellenic  ship  or  was 
deserting  from  the  barbarians  and  fighting  for  the  Hellenes. 
Secondly,  she  gained  great  reputation  by  this  thing  with 
Xerxes,  for  besides  other  things  which  happened  fortu- 
nately for  her,  there  was  this  also,  that  not  one  of  the 
crew  of  the  Calyndian  ship  survived  to  become  her  ac- 
cuser. Xerxes  is  reported  to  have  said:  '  My  men  have 
become  women  and  my  women  men.' 

"Now  if  the  Athenian  captain  had  known  that  Arte- 
misia was  sailing  in  this  ship,  he  would  not  have  ceased 
until  either  he  had  taken  her  or  had  been  taken  himself; 
for  orders  had  been  given  to  the  Athenian  captains  and  a 
prize  was  offered  of  ten  thousand  drachmas  for  the  man 
who  could  take  her  alive;  since  they  thought  it  intolerable 
that  a  woman  should  make  an  expedition  against  Athens." 

After  the  calamitous  issue  of  the  battle  of  Salamis, 
Xerxes,  having  learned  by  hard  experience  that  the  insight 
of  such  a  woman  as  Artemisia  was  more  to  be  depended 
upon  than  the  wisdom  of  his  male  advisers,  once  more 
sends  for  Artemisia  and  takes  counsel  with  her. 


356  WOMAN 

"  When  Xerxes  was  taking  counsel  with  those  of  the 
Persians  who  were  called  to  be  his  advisers,  it  seemed 
good  to  him  to  send  for  Artemisia  also  to  give  him  counsel, 
because  at  the  former  time  she  alone  had  showed  herself 
to  have  perception  of  that  which  ought  to  be  done.  So 
when  Artemisia  had  come,  Xerxes  removed  from  him  all 
the  rest  and  spoke  to  her  thus:  '  Mardonius  bids  me  stay 
here  and  make  an  attempt  on  the  Peloponnesus,  saying 
that  the  Persians  and  the  land  army  are  not  guilty  of  any 
share  in  my  calamity  and  that  they  would  gladly  give  me 
proof  of  this.  He  bids  me,  therefore,  either  do  this,  or, 
if  not,  he  desires  himself  to  choose  thirty  myriads  from 
the  army  and  to  deliver  over  to  me  Hellas  reduced  to 
subjection;  and  he  bids  me  withdraw  with  the  rest  of  the 
army  to  my  own  abode.  So  now  advise  me  which  of 
these  things  I  shall  do/  She  spoke  these  words:  '  O  king! 
it  seems  good  to  me  that  thou  shouldst  retire  back  and 
leave  Mardonius  here,  if  he  desires  it,  and  undertakes  to 
do  this.  If  Mardonius  suffer  any  disaster,  no  account  will 
be  made;  and  if  the  Hellenes  conquer,  they  gain  a  victory 
which  is  no  victory,  having  destroyed  one  who  is  but  thy 
slave.  Thou,  however,  wilt  retire,  having  done  that  for 
which  thou  didst  make  thy  march — that  is  to  say,  having 
delivered  Athens  to  the  fire.'  With  this  advice  Xerxes 
was  greatly  pleased,  since  she  succeeded  in  saying  that 
very  thing  which  he  himself  was  meaning  to  do.  He 
commended  Artemisia,  therefore,  and  sent  her  away  to 
conduct  his  sons  to  Ephesus,  for  there  were  certain  sons 
of  his  who  accompanied  him." 

This  time  Xerxes  took  the  advice  of  Artemisia,  and  left 
Mardonius  with  three  hundred  thousand  men  to  carry  on 
the  campaign,  while  he  himself,  with  the  greater  part  of 
his  forces  which  had  survived,  retired  to  Persia.  Arte- 
misia, having  won  great  glory  by  her  valor  and  wisdom, 


THE   MACEDONIAN  WOMAN  357 

returned  to  her  own  dominions,  and  we  know  nothing 
authentic  as  to  her  later  life.  So  queenly  a  woman,  how- 
ever, could  not  escape  the  Greek  fondness  for  manufactur- 
ing marvellous  stories  concerning  the  great;  and  Ptolemy 
Hephasstion,  a  writer  who  mingles  little  fact  with  much 
fancy  in  his  works,  preserves  a  tradition  that  Artemisia 
came  to  her  end  in  a  most  romantic  manner.  During  her 
later  years,  she  conceived  a  violent  attachment  for  Dar- 
danus,  a  beautiful  youth  of  Abydos.  As  her  passion  was 
not  returned,  she  avenged  herself  by  putting  out  his  eyes 
while  he  slept.  This  excited  the  anger  of  the  gods,  and 
in  obedience  to  an  oracle  she,  like  the  traditional  Sappho, 
threw  herself  down  from  the  Lover's  Leap  of  Leucate. 

The  second  Artemisia  is  immortalized  by  her  attachment 
to  her  husband  Mausolus,  King  of  Caria,  in  memory  of 
whom  she  built  the  celebrated  and  stately  tomb,  consid- 
ered to  be  one  of  the  seven  wonders  of  the  ancient  world. 
This  imposing  structure,  four  hundred  and  forty  feet  in 
circuit,  and  one  hundred  and  forty  feet  high,  built  by  the 
most  renowned  architects  of  the  time,  embellished  with 
sculptures  from  the  hands  of  Scopas  and  his  associates, 
and  rendered  gorgeous  by  the  use  of  the  most  varied  colors, 
gave  the  name  of  mausoleum  to  all  succeeding  sepulchres 
built  on  a  colossal  scale.  No  expense  was  spared  by  the 
devoted  queen  to  make  it  expressive  of  her  love  for  her 
husband  and  brother;  for  this  species  of  marriage,  so  com- 
mon later  in  Egypt,  was  sanctioned  by  the  customs  of 
the  country. 

She  furthermore  invited  the  most  noted  writers  of  the 
day  to  attend  a  literary  contest,  and  offered  the  richest 
prizes  to  the  one  who  should  excel  in  composing  a  pane- 
gyric to  her  husband's  virtue.  Notwithstanding  the  inter- 
est she  took  in  these  memorials  to  her  departed  lord,  she 
continued  to  be  a  prey  to  the  deepest  affliction.  The  story 


358  WOMAN 

is  told  that  she  visited  the  place  where  her  husband's  ashes 
were  deposited,  and,  mixing  them  with  water,  drank  them 
off,  for  the  purpose  of  becoming,  as  she  said,  the  living 
tomb  of  her  husband.  In  spite  of  her  poignant  grief,  she 
did  not  neglect  the  duties  of  her  elevated  position,  but  con- 
quered the  island  of  Rhodes,  whose  inhabitants  she  treated 
with  great  severity.  Her  love  of  art  was  shown  in  the 
two  statues  she  had  set  up  in  the  city,  one  representing 
the  city  of  Rhodes,  habited  like  a  slave,  the  other  of  her- 
self branding  the  city  with  a  hot  iron.  Though  interested 
in  making  Halicarnassus  a  centre  of  art  and  culture,  and 
extending  and  strengthening  her  dominions,  she  could  not 
overcome  her  desolation  of  heart,  and  is  said  to  have  died 
of  grief  two  years  after  the  loss  of  her  husband. 


tan  Mioman 


XV 

THE   ALEXANDRIAN   WOMAN 

THE  Forty-five  Years'  War  came  to  a  close  in  B.  C.  277. 
It  had  been  entered  into  by  those  generals  of  Alexander 
the  Great  who  succeeded  to  his  dominions,  and  its  close 
witnessed  three  dynasties  firmly  established  and  a  number 
of  minor  principalities  governed  by  various  petty  rulers. 
The  main  divisions  of  the  Hellenistic  world  at  this  time 
were  the  kingdoms  of  Macedonia,  under  the  successors  of 
Antigonus  Gonatas;  of  Syria,  under  the  Seleucidae;  and 
of  Egypt,  under  the  Ptolemies;  while  the  chief  second-rate 
powers  were  Pergamum  and  Rhodes.  These  States  con- 
tinued to  be  the  great  centres  of  Hellenism  until  they  were 
one  by  one  overthrown  by  the  mightier  power  of  Rome, 
which  in  its  turn  continued  and  perpetuated  the  Greek 
spirit,  so  that  it  has  become  an  element  in  the  culture  and 
civilization  of  modern  times. 

The  most  striking  feature  of  social  life  in  the  Hellenistic 
Age  was  its  cosmopolitan  character,  reminding  one  of  the 
European  culture  of  to-day.  We  know  almost  nothing 
of  the  life  of  the  peoples  of  the  different  nationalities, 
but  the  history  of  the  times  deals  largely  with  the  courts 
of  the  rulers,  and  with  the  wars  and  commercial  rivalries  of 
contending  powers.  As  we  have  frequently  noticed  in 

361 


362  WOMAN 

previous  chapters,  the  status  of  woman  under  the  old 
monarchical  governments  was  an  elevated  and  influential 
one.  Kings  must  have  their  courts,  and  court  life  always 
presupposes  a  queen,  with  her  attendant  ladies;  and  in  the 
story  of  the  Hellenistic  periods  of  the  world's  history,  one 
of  the  most  striking  features  is  the  number  of  royal  women 
who  enter  upon  the  stage  of  action  and  play  a  prominent 
part  for  the  weal  or  woe  of  mankind. 

We  have  already  considered  the  character  of  the  Mace- 
donian woman — bold,  fearless,  ambitious,  ready  to  resort 
to  cruelty  and  to  intrigue  in  the  carrying-out  of  her  ends. 
Macedonian  character  partook  of  the  rugged,  hardy  nature 
of  the  land,  and  the  women  of  the  country  cared  more  for 
outdoor  sports  and  scenes  of  war  than  for  the  enervating 
luxuries  of  the  East  and  the  letters  of  Egypt. 

The  kingdom  of  Syria,  with  its  luxurious  capital  at  An- 
tioch,  under  the  dynasty  of  the  Seleucidas,  was  perhaps, 
as  a  whole,  more  Hellenistic  in  culture  than  either  Egypt 
or  Macedon,  and  united  more  generally  the  refinement  of 
Greece  with  the  luxury  and  splendor  of  the  Orient.  Un- 
fortunately, we  know  but  little  of  this  important  kingdom, 
except  as  to  its  wars  and  politics.  Though  Antiochus,  the 
real  founder  of  the  dynasty,  was  a  patron  of  letters  and 
maintained  learned  men  at  his  court,  no  literature  of  im- 
portance arose  to  tell  us  of  its  patrons;  and,  excepting  the 
story  already  told  of  his  romantic  marriage  with  Strato- 
nice,  we  know  nothing  of  Antiochus's  private  life  and  but 
few  incidents  in  the  lives  of  his  successors.  We  know 
that  the  population  of  Syria  was  manifold  in  nationality,  in 
politics,  and  in  manners,  and  that  the  Greek  cities,  which 
were  so  profusely  established,  developed  a  high  degree 
of  culture  and  created  a  general  diffusion  of  knowledge. 
Juvenal,  in  describing  the  Greek  influence  on  Rome, 
speaks  of  the  Syrian  river  Orontes  as  flowing  into  the 


THE  ALEXANDRIAN  WOMAN  363 

Tiber,  and,  doubtless,  the  Greek  of  the  Orient  was  the 
type  most  largely  represented  in  the  mixed  population  of 
Rome.  Antioch  became  a  formidable  rival  of  Alexandria 
as  a  social  and  commercial  centre,  and  extended  Greek 
influence  over  a  far  wider  area  than  did  the  Egyptian  city. 
But  when  we  seek  to  know  something  of  the  social  life  of 
this  important  branch  of  Hellenism,  of  the  details  of  private 
life  and  of  the  condition  of  women,  we  have  absolutely  no 
source  of  information.  Outside  of  the  history  of  the  royal 
family,  there  is  unbroken  silence  as  to  the  more  intimate 
story  of  Syria. 

In  this  concluding  chapter,  therefore,  we  shall  confine 
our  attention  to  Alexandria  and  the  court  of  the  Ptole- 
mies, whither  the  centre  of  gravity  of  the  Greek  world 
trended  after  the  fall  of  Greek  independence  and  the 
decline  of  Athens.  Its  great  founder  seems  to  have 
shown  prophetic  insight  in  his  selection  of  the  spot  on 
which  to  build  the  city  that  should  bear  his  name,  and 
the  supremacy  of  that  city  was  assured  when  Alexander 
by  his  conquests  opened  up  the  Orient  to  Greek  com- 
merce; but  the  greatest  good  fortune  of  Alexandria  lay 
in  obtaining  a  ruler  of  the  ability  and  insight  and  energy 
of  Ptolemy  Soter. 

Ptolemy,  the  son  of  Lagus  and  Arsinoe,  had  grown  up 
with  Alexander  as  one  of  his  playfellows,  and  later  be- 
came one  of  his  most  trusted,  though  not  most  prominent, 
generals.  There  is  a  story  that,  before  her  marriage, 
Arsinoe  was  a  mistress  of  Philip,  and  that  Ptolemy  was 
in  truth  the  half-brother  of  Alexander;  but  there  is  no 
testimony  to  substantiate  the  tradition,  unless  it  be  found 
in  Ptolemy's  likeness  to  Philip  in  intrigue  and  governing 
power. 

During  the  stormy  years  following  the  death  of  Alex- 
ander, Ptolemy,  alone  of  the  generals,  seems  to  have 


364  WOMAN 

preserved  his  mental  balance;  and  instead  of  entering  into 
the  struggles  of  his  rivals  for  world-empire,  he  preferred 
to  acquire  as  his  secure  dominion  the  province  of  Egypt, 
so  easily  defensible,  and  separated  from  the  contestable 
ground  of  opposing  nations. 

The  policy  of  the  first  Ptolemy  moulded  the  history  of 
Egypt  and  the  destinies  of  Hellenism.  He  surrounded 
himself  with  Greeks,  so  that  they  became  the  dominant 
faction  in  the  government  and  determined  the  tone  of 
court  society.  He  gave  religious  freedom  and  large  liberty 
in  other  respects  to  the  Egyptians,  so  that  they  became 
supporters  of  the  dynasty.  By  the  foundation  of  the 
Museum,  or  University,  of  Alexandria,  he  made  his  capital 
the  literary  centre  of  the  new  era  and  attracted  to  his 
court  learned  men  from  all  parts  of  the  world.  Greek 
became  the  language  of  the  court,  and  Greek  culture  and 
manners  there  prevailed. 

Mahaffy  graphically  describes  the  brilliant  court  life  of 
Alexandria  under  Soter  and  his  successors: 

"So  it  came  to  pass  that  Ptolemy  Soter  gathered  into 
his  capital  every  kind  of  splendor.  ...  He  estab- 
lished the  most  brilliant  palace  and  court,  with  festivals 
which  were  the  wonder  of  the  world.  He  gathered  all 
that  he  could  command  of  learning  and  literary  fame,  and 
the  city  was  adequate  to  the  largeness  and  splendor  of  its 
external  appearance.  We  have  it  described  in  later  times 
as  astonishing  the  beholder  not  only  with  its  vastness, 
but  also  with  the  splendor  of  its  colonnades,  which  lined 
the  streets  for  miles  and  kept  the  ways  cool  for  passen- 
gers; with  the  din  and  bustle  of  the  thoroughfares,  of 
which  the  principal  were  horse  and  carriage  ways,  con- 
trary to  the  usual  Greek  practice;  with  the  number  and 
richness  of  its  public  buildings,  and  with  the  holiday 
and  happy  airs  of  its  vast  population,  who  rested  not 


THE  ALEXANDRIAN  WOMAN  365 

day  and  night,  but  had  their  streets  so  well  lighted  that 
Achilles  Tatius  says  the  sun  did  not  set,  but  was  distrib- 
uted to  illumine  the  gay  night.  The  palace  and  other 
royal  buildings  and  parks  were  walled  off  like  the  palace 
at  Pekin,  and  had  their  own  port  and  seashore,  but  all  the 
rest  of  the  town  had  water  near  it  and  ship  traffic  in  all 
directions.  Every  costume  and  language  must  have  been 
met  in  its  streets  and  quays.  It  had  its  fashionable  sub- 
urbs too,  and  its  bathing  resorts  to  the  east,  Canopus, 
Eleusis,  and  Nicopolis;  to  the  west,  its  Necropolis.  But 
of  all  this  splendor  no  eye-witness  has  left  us  in  detail 
what  we  are  reduced  to  infer  by  conjecture." 

The  dynasty  of  the  Ptolemies,  so  ably  founded  by 
Ptolemy  Soter  and  ending  with  the  reign  of  the  great 
Cleopatra,  presents  a  series  of  monarchs  renowned  for 
their  culture,  their  luxury,  their  lasciviousness,  and  their 
cruelty;  and  by  the  side  of  the  kings  may  be  found  a 
series  of  queens  unrivalled  in  history  for  their  clever- 
ness, their  wickedness,  or  their  beauty.  Woman's  place 
in  this  dynasty  was  a  most  influential  one,  and  she  pos- 
sessed all  the  freedom  and  power  that  could  well  fall  to 
her  lot;  she  knew  nothing  whatever  of  the  restrictions  com- 
mon in  old  Greek  life  or  in  the  life  of  the  Orient.  This 
was  no  doubt  partly  due  to  the  fact  that  the  Macedonian 
spirit  prevailed,  partly  that  the  status  of  woman  among 
the  Egyptians  themselves  had  its  influence  on  the  con- 
querors. Papyri  found  in  recent  years  demonstrate  the 
legal  independence  and  freedom  of  women  among  the  an- 
cient Egyptians.  A  married  woman  could  make  contracts 
and  hold  property  in  her  own  name  and  perform  all  legal 
acts,  without  reference  to  her  husband.  Monogamy  was 
the  rule,  though  in  addition  to  the  "dear  wife"  or  "the 
lady  of  the  house"  there  were  frequently  subordinate 
wives.  So  supreme  was  the  position  of  woman  that  there 


366  WOMAN 

were  instances  in  which  the  husband  settled  all  his  prop- 
erty on  his  wife,  upon  condition  that  she  support  him  for 
the  rest  of  his  days  and  give  him  a  decent  burial.  There 
was  such  a  contrast  between  the  Egyptian  and  the  old 
Greek  conception  of  woman  that  the  Greek  ofttimes  jeered 
at  the  Egyptian  submission  to  feminine  domination.  In 
Alexandria  under  the  Ptolemies,  accordingly,  owing  to 
Macedonian  respect  for  woman  and  the  old  Egyptian  idea 
of  feminine  worth  and  capacity,  the  gentler  sex  experi- 
enced conditions  altogether  different  from  those  in  ancient 
Athens  and  enjoyed  a  freedom  similar  to  that  of  modern 
times. 

Ptolemy  Soter,  like  his  successors,  was  very  fond  of 
women,  and  recognized  fully  the  influence  to  be  gained 
by  political  marriage.  Alexander,  at  the  famous  wedding 
feast,  married  his  general  to  the  daughter  of  one  of  the 
noblest  of  the  Persians,  but  we  hear  nothing  further  of 
this  union.  His  first  political  marriage  was  with  Eurydice, 
daughter  of  Antipater,  the  old  regent,  and  some  years 
later  he  married  Berenice,  the  grandniece  of  Antipater. 
He  did  not  divorce  Eurydice,  but  openly  adopted  the  prac- 
tice of  polygamy,  which  was  sanctioned  in  both  Macedon 
and  Egypt.  The  two  wives  seem  to  have  lived  together 
amicably,  but  Berenice  was  the  favorite.  She  was  a 
woman  of  amiable  but  strong  character,  and  she  main- 
tained unbroken  ascendency  over  her  husband.  So  skilful 
was  her  diplomacy  that  her  son  Magas,  the  fruit  of  a 
former  marriage,  was  appointed  King  of  Gyrene,  while 
her  son  Ptolemy  was  made  her  husband's  successor  on 
the  throne  of  Egypt,  to  the  exclusion  of  Eurydice's  much 
older  son,  Ceraunus. 

Ptolemy  Philadelphus,  son  of  Berenice,  succeeded  to 
the  throne  of  Egypt  in  B.  C.  285,  and  for  forty  years 
was  the  most  famous  monarch  in  the  world.  His  court 


THE  ALEXANDRIAN  WOMAN  367 

was  renowned  for  its  splendor  and  magnificence,  and  may 
be  aptly  compared  to  the  courts  of  Haroun  al  Raschid  and 
Lorenzo  de'  Medici,  and  here  too  woman  played  her  part. 
Philadelphia's  first  wife  was  Arsinoe  I.,  daughter  of  Ly- 
simachus,  King  of  Thrace,  who  bore  him  several  children. 
It  is  not  known  definitely  why  Philadelphus  divorced  her, 
but  there  is  a  story  that  she  was  detected  plotting  against 
his  life,  which  resulted  in  her  divorce  and  banishment. 
The  second  wife  was  likewise  named  Arsinoe,  Ptolemy's 
own  full  sister.  This  match  proved  to  be  a  very  happy 
one.  Arsinoe  had  had  an  eventful  career.  Daughter  of 
Ptolemy  and  Berenice,  she  first  became  the  wife  of  King 
Lysimachus  of  Thrace,  and  at  his  untimely  death  she  mar- 
ried Ptolemy  Ceraunus,  her  half-brother,  the  banished  son 
of  Eurydice.  She  and  her  husband  caused  the  murder  of 
Agathocles,  the  rightful  heir  of  Lysimachus,  and  Ceraunus 
later  murdered  the  children  of  Arsinoe  by  Lysimachus. 
After  such  an  experience  in  crime  and  misfortune,  at  the 
death  of  her  second  husband  she  retired  for  a  season, — a 
widow  of  middle  age, — and  then  emerged  to  become  the 
consort  of  her  brother  Philadelphus.  Arsinoe  herself  first 
assumed  the  title  Philadelphus,  "loving  her  brother,"  by 
which  the  king  came  to  be  known  in  later  generations.  As 
she  was  childless  and  was  not  likely  to  have  any  heirs 
of  her  own,  Arsinoe  adopted  her  predecessor's  children; 
and  being  her  husband's  sister,  she  did  not  disturb  him 
in  the  many  amours  which  consumed  so  large  a  part  of 
his  time. 

Arsinoe  was  a  woman  of  brilliant  intellectual  gifts,  and 
the  union  between  her  and  Philadelphus  seems  to  have 
been  of  the  intellectual  and  spiritual  kind.  She  proved 
to  be  an  able  helper  in  all  the  affairs  of  government;  she 
assisted  him  in  the  financial  administration  and  particularly 
in  foreign  affairs;  she  encouraged  him  in  his  endeavor  to 


368  WOMAN 

make  Alexandria  the  centre  of  letters  and  art,  and  her 
name  is  coupled  with  his  in  all  the  great  events  of  this 
period.  The  two  were  deified,  and  statues  were  erected 
to  them  as  Gods  Adelphi.  The  marriage  between  brother 
and  sister  was  quite  in  accord  with  Egyptian  notions,  and 
in  the  public  records,  for  ages  past,  the  queen  had  been 
called  sister  of  the  king,  whether  she  was  really  so  or  not. 
The  marriage  was  compared  by  court  poets  with  that  of 
Zeus  and  Hera;  and  the  couple  were  frequently  lauded 
by  them  for  their  many  achievements  and  the  splendor  of 
their  court. 

The  reign  of  Philadelphus  and  Arsinoe  was  the  brilliant 
epoch  of  Alexandrian  literature,  and  we  may  well  pause  at 
this  point  to  see  what  glimpses  the  poets  of  Alexandria 
give  us  into  the  feminine  life  of  the  day.  Theocritus, 
the  famous  pastoral  poet,  lays  the  scene  of  his  fifteenth 
idyl  in  Alexandria,  and  presents  one  of  the  most  charming 
bits  of  feminine  life  that  literature  affords  us.  The  feast 
of  Adonis,  described  in  an  earlier  chapter,  was  about  to  be 
celebrated  at  the  palace  of  King  Ptolemy,  and  two  ladies 
of  Alexandria  had  agreed  to  go  together  to  see  the  image  of 
Adonis  which  Queen  Arsinoe  "had  decorated  with  great 
magnificence,  and  to  hear  a  celebrated  prima  donna  sing 
the  Adonis  song."  The  household  details,  the  toilettes,  the 
complaints  of  the  two  cronies  about  their  husbands,  the  ad- 
miration of  a  new  dress  and  its  cost,  the  rough  treatment 
of  an  unknown  servant;  then  the  crowd  in  the  streets, 
the  terrors  of  the  passing  cavalry,  the  squeeze  at  the 
entrance,  the  saucy  rejoinder  to  a  stranger  who  protests 
against  their  incessant  jabber — these  and  many  other  comic 
and  picturesque  details  have  made  this  poem  the  best 
known  among  the  so-called  Idyls,  and  indicate  that  the 
everyday  life  of  woman  in  Ptolemaic  Alexandria  was  much 
the  same  as  her  life  to-day.  Gorgo,  one  of  the  ladies, 


THE  ALEXANDRIAN  WOMAN  369 

goes  by  appointment  to  the  house  of  her  friend  Praxinoe, 
where  the  dialogue  begins: 

GORGO. — Is  Praxinoe  at  home? 

PRAXINOE. — Dear  Gorgo,  how  long  it  is  since  you  have 
been  here!  She  is  at  home.  The  wonder  is  that  you 
have  got  here  at  last!  Eunoe,  see  that  she  has  a  chair. 
Throw  a  cushion  on  it,  too. 

GORGO. — It  does  most  charmingly  as  it  is. 

PRAXINOE.— Do  sit  down. 

GORGO. — Oh,  what  a  thing  spirit  is!  I  have  scarcely 
got  to  you  alive,  Praxinoe!  What  a  huge  crowd,  what 
hosts  of  four-in-hands!  Everywhere  cavalry  boots,  every- 
where men  in  uniform!  And  the  road  is  endless;  yes,  you 
really  live  too  far  away! 

PRAXINOE. — It  is  all  the  fault  of  that  madman  of  mine. 
Here  he  came  to  the  ends  of  the  earth  and  took — a  hole, 
not  a  house,  and  all  that  we  might  not  be  neighbors.  The 
jealous  wretch,  always  the  same,  ever  for  spite! 

GORGO. — Don't  talk  of  your  husband  Dinon  like  that, 
my  dear  girl,  before  the  little  boy — look  how  he  is  staring 
at  you!  Never  mind,  Zopyrion,  sweet  child,  she  is  not 
speaking  about  papa. 

PRAXINOE.— Our  Lady!  the  child  takes  notice. 

GORGO. — Nice  papa! 

PRAXINOE. — That  papa  of  his  the  other  day — we  call 
every  day  "the  other  day" — went  to  get  soap  and  rouge 
at  the  shop,  and  back  he  came  to  me  with  salt — the  great 
big  endless  fellow! 

GORGO. — Mine  has  the  same  trick,  too,  a  perfect  spend- 
thrift— Diocleides!  Yesterday  he  got  what  he  meant  for 
five  fleeces,  and  paid  seven  shillings  apiece  for — what 
do  you  suppose? — dogskins,  shreds  of  old  leather  wallets, 
mere  trash — trouble  on  trouble!  But  come,  take  your 


370  WOMAN 

cloak  and  shawl.  Let  us  be  off  to  the  palace  of  rich 
Ptolemy,  the  king,  to  see  the  Adonis;  I  hear  the  queen 
has  provided  something  splendid! 

PRAXINOE. — Fine  folks  do  everything  finely. 

GORGO. — What  a  tale  you  will  have  to  tell  about  the 
things  you  have  seen,  to  anyone  who  has  not  seen  them! 
It  seems  nearly  time  to  go. 

PRAXINOE.— Idlers  have  always  holiday.  Eunoe,  bring 
the  water  and  put  it  down  in  the  middle  of  the  room,  lazy 
creature  that  you  are.  Cats  like  always  to  sleep  soft! 
Come,  bustle,  bring  the  water;  quicker!  I  want  water 
first,  and  how  she  carries  it!  give  it  me,  all  the  same; 
don't  pour  out  so  much,  you  extravagant  thing!  Stupid 
girl!  Why  are  you  wetting  my  dress?  There,  stop,  I 
have  washed  my  hands,  as  heaven  would  have  it.  Where 
is  the  key  of  the  big  chest?  Bring  it  here. 

GORGO. — Praxinoe,  that  full  bodice  becomes  you  won- 
derfully. Tell  me,  how  much  did  the  stuff  cost  you  just 
off  the  loom? 

PRAXINOE. — Don't  speak  of  it,  Gorgo!  More  than  eight 
pounds  in  good  silver  money, — and  the  work  on  it!  I 
nearly  slaved  my  soul  out  over  it! 

GORGO. — Well,  it  is  most  successful;  all  you  could  wish. 

PRAXINOE. — Thanks  for  the  pretty  speech!  Bring  my 
shawl,  and  set  my  hat  on  my  head,  the  fashionable  way. 
No,  child,  1  don't  mean  to  take  you.  Boo!  Bogies! 
There's  a  horse  that  bites!  Cry  as  much  as  you  please, 
but  I  cannot  have  you  lamed.  Let  us  be  moving.  Phrygia, 
take  the  child  and  keep  him  amused,  call  in  the  dog,  and 
shut  the  street  door. 

[  They  go  into  Hie  street.] 

Ye  gods,  what  a  crowd!  How  on  earth  are  we  ever  to 
get  through  this  coil?  They  are  like  ants  that  no  one  can 


THE  ALEXANDRIAN  WOMAN  -  371 

measure  or  number.  Many  a  good  deed  have  you  done, 
Ptolemy;  since  your  father  joined  the  Immortals,  there's 
never  a  malefactor  to  spoil  the  passer-by,  creeping  on  him 
in  Egyptian  fashion— oh!  the  tricks  those  perfect  rascals 
used  to  play.  Birds  of  a  feather,  ill  jesters,  scoundrels 
all!  Dear  Gorge,  what  will  become  of  us?  Here  come 
the  king's  war  horses!  My  dear  man,  don't  trample  on 
me.  Look,  the  bay's  rearing;  see,  what  temper!  Eunoe, 
you  foolhardy  girl,  will  you  never  keep  out  of  the  way? 
The  beast  will  kill  the  man  that's  leading  him.  What  a 
good  thing  it  is  for  me  that  my  brat  stays  safe  at  home! 

GORGO. — Courage,  Praxinoe.  We  are  safe  behind 
them  now,  and  they  have  gone  to  their  station. 

PRAXINOE. — There!  I  begin  to  be  myself  again.  Ever 
since  I  was  a  child,  I  have  feared  nothing  so  much  as 
horses  and  the  chilly  snake.  Come  along,  the  huge  mob 
is  overflowing  us. 

GORGO  (to  an  old  woman). — Are  you  from  the  Court, 
mother? 

OLD  WOMAN.— I  am,  my  child. 

PRAXINOE. — Is  it  easy  to  get  there? 

OLD  WOMAN. — The  Achaeans  got  into  Troy  by  trying, 
my  prettiest  of  ladies.  Trying  will  do  everything  in  the 
long  run. 

GORGO. — The  old  wife  has  spoken  her  oracles,  and  off 
she  goes. 

PRAXINOE. — Women  know  everything;  yes,  and  how 
Zeus  married  Hera! 

GORGO. — See,  Praxinoe,  what  a  crowd  there  is  about 
the  doors! 

PRAXINOE. — Monstrous,  Gorgo!  Give  me  your  hand; 
and  you,  Eunoe,  catch  hold  of  Eutychis;  never  lose  hold 
of  her,  for  fear  lest  you  get  lost.  Let  us  all  go  in  together; 
Eunoe,  clutch  tight  to  me.  Oh,  how  tiresome,  Gorgo,  my 


372  WOMAN 

muslin  veil  is  torn  in  two  already!  For  heaven's  sake,  sir, 
if  you  ever  wish  to  be  fortunate,  take  care  of  my  shawl! 

STRANGER. — I  can  hardly  help  myself,  but,  for  all  that,  I 
will  be  as  careful  as  I  can. 

PRAXINOE. — How  close-packed  the  mob  is,  they  hustle 
like  a  herd  of  swine! 

STRANGER. — Courage,  lady;  all  is  well  with  us  now. 

PRAXINOE. — Both  this  year  and  forever  may  all  be  well 
with  you,  my  dear  sir,  for  your  care  of  us.  A  good,  kind 
man!  We're  letting  Eunoe  get  squeezed — come,  wretched 
girl,  push  your  way  through.  That  is  the  way.  We  are 
all  on  the  right  side  of  the  door,  quoth  the  bridegroom, 
when  he  had  shut  himself  in  with  his  bride. 

GORGO. — Do  come  here,  Praxinoe.  Look  first  at  these 
embroideries.  How  light  and  how  lovely!  You  will  call 
them  the  garments  of  the  gods. 

PRAXINOE.  —  Lady  Athena!  what  spinning,  women 
wrought  them,  what  painters  designed  those  drawings, 
so  true  they  are?  How  naturally  they  stand  and  move, 
like  living  creatures,  not  patterns  woven!  What  a  clever 
thing  is  man!  Ah,  and  himself — Adonis — how  beautiful 
to  behold  he  lies  on  his  silver  couch,  with  the  first  down 
on  his  cheeks,  the  thrice-beloved  Adonis, — Adonis  beloved 
even  among  the  dead! 

A  STRANGER. — You  weariful  women,  do  cease  your 
endless  cooing  talk!  They  bore  one  to  death  with  their 
eternal  broad  vowels! 

GORGO. — Indeed!  And  where  may  this  person  come 
from?  What  is  it  to  you  if  we  are  chatterboxes!  Give 
orders  to  your  own  servants,  sir.  Do  you  pretend  to 
command  ladies  of  Syracuse?  If  you  must  know,  we  are 
Corinthians  by  descent,  like  Bellerophon  himself,  and  we 
speak  Peloponnesian.  Dorian  women  may  lawfully  speak 
Doric,  I  presume? 


THE  ALEXANDRIAN  WOMAN  373 

PRAXINOE. — Lady  Persephone! — never  may  we  have 
more  than  one  master!  I  am  not  afraid  at  your  putting 
me  on  short  commons. 

GORGO. — Hush,  hush,  Praxinoe!  the  Argive  woman's 
daughter,  the  great  singer,  is  beginning  the  Adonis;  she 
that  won  the  prize  last  year  for  dirge  singing.  I  am  sure 
she  will  give  us  something  lovely;  see,  she  is  preluding 
with  her  airs  and  graces. 

THE   PSALM   OF  ADONIS 

O  Queen  that  lovest  Golgi,  and  Idalium,  and  the  steep 
of  Eryx,  O  Aphrodite,  that  playest  with  gold,  lo,  from  the 
stream  eternal  of  Acheron  they  have  brought  back  to  thee 
Adonis — even  in  the  twelfth  month  they  have  brought 
him,  the  dainty-footed  Hours.  Tardiest  of  the  Immortals 
are  the  beloved  Hours,  but  dear  and  desired  they  come, 
for  always,  to  all  mortals,  they  bring  some  gift  with  them. 
O  Cypris,  daughter  of  Dione,  from  mortal  to  immortal,  so 
men  tell,  thou  hast  changed  Berenice,  dropping  softly  in 
the  woman's  breast  the  stuff  of  immortality. 

Therefore,  for  thy  delight,  O  thou  of  many  names  and 
many  temples,  doth  the  daughter  of  Berenice,  even 
Arsinoe,  lovely  as  Helen,  cherish  Adonis  with  all  things 
beautiful. 

Before  him  lie  all  ripe  fruits  that  the  tall  trees'  branches 
bear,  and  the  delicate  gardens,  arrayed  in  baskets  of  silver, 
and  the  golden  vessels  are  full  of  incense  of  Syria.  And 
all  the  dainty  cakes  that  women  fashion  in  the  kneading 
tray,  mingling  blossoms  manifold  with  the  white  wheaten 
flour,  all  that  is  wrought  of  honey  sweet,  and  in  soft  olive 
oil,  all  cakes  fashioned  in  the  semblance  of  things  that  fly, 
and  of  things  that  creep,  lo,  here  they  are  set  before  him. 

Here  are  built  for  him  shadowy  bowers  of  green,  all 
laden  with  tender  anise,  and  children  flit  overhead — the 


374  WOMAN 

little  Loves — as  the  young  nightingales  perched  upon 
the  trees  fly  forth  and  try  their  wings  from  bough  to 
bough. 

O  the  ebony,  O  the  gold,  O  the  twin  eagles  of  white 
ivory  that  carry  to  Zeus,  the  son  of  Cronos,  his  darling, 
his  cupbearer!  O  the  purple  coverlet  strewn  above,  more 
soft  than  sleep!  So  Miletus  will  say,  and  whoso  feeds 
sheep  in  Samos. 

Another  bed  is  strewn  for  beautiful  Adonis,  one  bed 
Cypris  keeps,  and  one  the  rosy-armed  Adonis.  A  bride- 
groom of  eighteen  or  nineteen  years  is  he,  his  kisses  are 
not  rough,  the  golden  down  being  yet  upon  his  lips!  And 
now,  good-night  to  Cypris,  in  the  arms  of  her  lover!  But 
lo,  in  the  morning  we  will  all  of  us  gather  with  the  dew, 
and  carry  him  forth  among  the  waves  that  break  upon  the 
beach,  and  with  locks  unloosed,  and  ungirt  raiment  falling 
to  the  ankles,  and  bosom  bare,  will  we  begin  our  shrill, 
sweet  song. 

Thou  only,  dear  Adonis,  so  men  tell,  thou  only  of  the 
demigods,  dost  visit  both  this  world  and  the  stream  of 
Acheron.  For  Agamemnon  had  no  such  lot,  nor  Aias,  that 
mighty  lord  of  the  terrible  anger,  nor  Hector,  the  eldest 
born  of  the  twenty  sons  of  Hecuba,  nor  Patroclus,  nor 
Pyrrhus,  that  returned  out  of  Troy  land,  nor  the  heroes  of 
yet  more  ancient  days,  the  Lapithae  and  Deucalion's  sons, 
nor  the  sons  of  Pelops,  and  the  chiefs  of  Pelasgian  Argos. 
Be  gracious  now,  dear  Adonis,  and  propitious  even  in  the 
coming  year.  Dear  to  us  has  thine  advent  been,  Adonis, 
and  dear  shall  it  be  when  thou  comest  again. 

GORGO. — Praxinoe,  the  woman  is  cleverer  than  we 
fancied!  Happy  woman  to  know  so  much,  thrice  happy 
to  have  so  sweet  a  voice!  Well,  all  the  same,  it  is  time  to 
be  making  for  home.  Diocleides  has  not  had  his  dinner, 


THE  ALEXANDRIAN  WOMAN  375 

and  the  man  is  all  vinegar — don't  venture  near  him  when 
he  is  kept  waiting  for  dinner. — Farewell,  beloved  Adonis, 
may  you  find  us  glad  at  your  next  coming! 

This  idyl  of  Theocritus  suggests  the  freedom  of  move- 
ment and  the  ordinary  pursuits  of  the  Alexandrian  lady 
in  the  days  of  Arsinoe.  A  lost  work  of  Callimachus, 
the  SEtia,  has  also  an  importance  in  our  quest,  since  it 
contained  one  of  the  earliest  love  stories  in  literature, 
showing  the  ideals  of  feminine  character  which  were 
popular  at  that  time.  As  the  literary  original  of  that  sort 
of  tale  which  makes  love  and  marriage  the  beginning  and 
end  of  the  plot,  and  which  emphasizes  the  constancy 
and  purity  of  female  love,  this  story,  which  was  the 
model  for  the  Greek  novel  of  later  generations,  is  evi- 
dence that  in  an  age  infamous  for  the  wickedness  of  those 
in  high  places  the  people  yet  delighted  in  stories  of  do- 
mestic affection  and  innocence.  The  tale  of  Callimachus, 
according  to  Mahaffy,  ran  in  this  wise: 

"  There  were  once  upon  a  time  two  young  people  of 
marvellous  beauty,  called  Acontius  and  Cydippe.  All 
previous  attempts  on  the  part  of  any  youth  or  maiden 
to  gain  their  affections  had  been  fruitless;  and  the  one 
went  about,  a  modern  Achilles  in  manly  splendor;  the 
other,  with  the  roses  and  lilies  of  her  cheeks,  added  a 
fourth  to  the  number  of  the  Graces.  But  the  god  Eros, 
— now  already  the  winged  urchin  of  the  Anacreontics, — 
angry  at  this  contumacy,  determined  to  assert  his  power. 
They  met  at  a  feast  of  Delos,  she  from  Athens,  he  from 
Ceos.  .  .  .  Seized  with  violent  love  at  first  sight, 
the  youth  inscribes  on  a  quince,  which  was  a  fruit  used 
at  this  particular  feast,  '  I  swear  by  Artemis  that  Acontius 
shall  be  my  husband,'  and  this  he  throws  at  the  girl's 
feet.  Her  nurse  picks  it  up  and  reads  the  words  to  the 


376  WOMAN 

girl,  who  blushed  '  in  plots  of  roses  '  at  the  oath  which  she 
had  never  taken.  But  she  too  is  seized  with  an  absorbing 
passion,  and  the  situation  is  complicated  by  the  ignorance 
or  hardness  of  heart  of  her  parents,  who  had  determined 
to  marry  her  to  another  man.  Her  grief  prostrates  her 
with  sore  sickness,  and  the  marriage  is  postponed.  Mean- 
while, Acontius  flees  the  city  and  his  parents,  and  wanders 
disconsolate  through  the  woods,  telling  to  trees  and  streams 
his  love,  writing  '  Cydippe '  upon  every  bark,  and  filling 
all  the  groves  with  his  sighs.  Thrice  the  parents  of  the 
maiden  prepared  the  wedding,  and  thrice  her  illness  ren- 
dered their  preparation  vain.  At  last  the  father  deter- 
mined to  consult  the  oracle  at  Delphi,  which  revealed  to 
him  the  facts  and  ordered  him  no  longer  to  thwart  the 
lovers.  Acontius  arrives  at  Athens.  The  young  couple 
are  married,  and  the  tale  ends  with  an  explicit  description 
of  their  happiness." 

Though  there  were  in  Alexandrian  literature  shocking 
stories  of  unnatural  passion,  as  found  later  in  Ovid,  among 
Roman  poets,  yet  the  type  of  the  Acontius  and  Cydippe 
tale  fascinated  the  age  and  held  its  ground,  and  its  moral 
elevation  in  contrast  to  the  prevailing  corruption  shows 
how  the  men  and  women  of  the  times  prized  "the  original 
purity  of  the  maiden,  and  the  importance  of  its  preserva- 
tion until  the  happy  conclusion  of  marriage." 

The  son  and  successor  of  Philadelphus,  the  young  King 
Ptolemy  III.,  Euergetes,  continued  the  literary  traditions 
of  the  parental  court.  Soon  after  his  father's  death,  he 
married  the  Princess  Berenice  II.  of  Cyrene,  a  young 
lady  of  beauty  and  spirit,  who  had  already  experienced 
the  corruption  of  the  court  life  of  the  day.  Demetrius  the 
Fair  had  been  sent  from  Macedon  to  obtain  her  kingdom 
with  her  hand,  but,  while  she  was  waiting  to  be  of  mar- 
riageable age,  he  had  beguiled  himself  by  intriguing  with 


THE  ALEXANDRIAN  WOMAN  377 

her  mother.  Berenice,  in  consequence,  had  him  put  to 
death.  Doubtless  her  marriage  with  the  young  King  of 
Egypt  was  a  political  alliance,  but  it  was  based  also  on 
mutual  liking  and  appears  to  have  turned  out  well.  This 
reign  of  Euergetes  and  Berenice  is,  in  fact,  the  one  reign  of 
the  Ptolemies  in  which  neither  rival  wives  nor  mistresses 
agitated  the  court.  Information  concerning  this  important 
period  is  meagre;  we  know,  however,  that  no  sooner  had 
the  bride  entered  upon  her  new  happiness  than  the  bride- 
groom was  called  away  to  Syria  to  avenge  the  horrid 
murder  of  his  sister,  also  named  Berenice,  who  had  been 
wedded  to  the  old  King  Antiochus  Theos  on  condition 
that  the  latter  repudiated  his  former  wife  Laodice  and 
her  children.  But  Laodice  got  the  aged  king  again  into  her 
power,  and  she  forthwith  poisoned  him  and  had  her  son 
proclaimed  king.  Her  party  in  Antioch  at  once  rose  up 
against  the  new  Egyptian  queen  and  murdered  her  and 
her  infant  child. 

Queen  Berenice,  upon  the  departure  of  her  husband, 
consecrated  a  lock  of  her  hair  in  the  temple  of  Aphrodite, 
with  a  prayer  for  his  safe  return.  The  lock  mysteriously 
disappeared,  and  the  philosopher  Conon,  happening  just 
at  that  time  to  discover  a  new  constellation,  declared  that 
the  lock  of  Berenice's  hair  had  been  set  among  the  stars. 
Callimachus,  one  of  the  court  poets,  seized  this  occasion 
to  compose  a  poem  entitled  the  Lock  of  Berenice, — pre- 
served in  Catullus's  elegant  Latin  version, — celebrating 
the  accession  to  the  constellations  of  this  lock  of  hair, 
which,  according  to  the  conceit  of  the  poet,  notwithstand- 
ing its  high  honor,  wishes  that  it  had  never  been  severed 
from  Berenice's  fair  head. 

The  reigns  of  Ptolemy  Soter,  Philadelphus,  and  Euer- 
getes, with  their  brilliant  queens,  mark  the  golden  age  of 
Alexandria.  In  Ptolemy  IV.,  Philopator,  we  notice  the 


378  WOMAN 

curious  and  rapid  change  of  the  great  family  of  the  Lagidae 
into  debauchees,  dilettanti,  drunkards,  dolts.  This  sover- 
eign was  a  feeble  and  colorless  personage  who  was  com- 
pletely under  the  control  of  his  minister  Sosibius,  whom 
Polybius  speaks  of  as  "a  wily  old  baggage  and  most  mis- 
chievous to  the  kingdom;  and  first  he  planned  the  murder 
of  Lysimachus,  who  was  the  son  of  Arsinoe,  daughter  of 
Lysimachus,  and  of  Ptolemy;  secondly,  of  Magas,  the  son 
of  Ptolemy  and  Berenice,  daughter  of  Magas;  thirdly,  of 
Berenice,  daughter  of  Ptolemy  and  mother  of  Philopator; 
fourthly,  of  Cleomenes  the  Spartan;  and  fifthly,  of  Arsinoe, 
daughter  of  Berenice,  the  king's  sister  and  wife."  Surely 
a  criminal  of  the  deepest  dye,  at  whose  hands  the  prin- 
cesses of  Alexandria  suffered  untold  horrors!  During  his 
later  years,  the  king  was  under  complete  subjection  to 
his  mistress  Agathoclea  and  her  brother  Agathocles.  The 
Queen  Arsinoe,  the  mother  of  the  infant  heir  to  the  throne, 
who  was  young  and  vigorous,  was  regarded  throughout 
Egypt  as  the  natural  protectress  and  regent  of  the  young 
Ptolemy  when  his  father's  life  was  on  the  wane;  but 
Agathocles  and  his  sister  secretly  murdered  her,  and,  when 
the  king  died,  presented  the  prince  to  the  populace  and 
read  a  forged  will  in  which  they  themselves  were  made 
his  guardians  during  his  minority.  But  the  people  learned 
of  the  sad  fate  of  Queen  Arsinoe,  and  her  ill  treatment 
roused  the  indignation  of  the  populace;  thereupon  followed 
one  of  the  mob  riots  for  which  Alexandria  was  noted. 
Polybius  gives  a  dramatic  description  of  the  great  riot  and 
tells  how  the  wicked  regent  Agathocles,  his  sister  Agatho- 
clea, and  his  mother  OEnanthe,  were  seized  by  the  multi- 
tude and  torn  in  pieces,  limb  by  limb,  while  yet  they  lived. 
When  the  young  King  Ptolemy  V.,  Epiphanes,  grew  up, 
he  took  for  his  queen  Cleopatra,  daughter  of  Antiochus  III., 
the  Great,  and  sister  of  Antiochus  IV.,  Epiphanes.  Now 


THE  ALEXANDRIAN  WOMAN  379 

for  the  first  time,  with  this  Syrian  princess,  enters  the 
name  of  Cleopatra  in  the  annals  of  Egypt.  Previous 
queens  have  been  named  either  Berenice  or  Arsinoe,  and 
from  this  time  on  the  three  names  appear  in  almost  inextri- 
cable confusion,  Cleopatra  prevailing  and  being  applied  at 
times  even  to  sisters  of  the  same  house.  The  first  Cleo- 
patra was  a  great  and  good  queen,  and  after  the  death  of 
her  husband,  whose  reign  was  short  and  uneventful,  and 
of  her  elder  son,  who  seems  to  have  died  soon  after  his  ac- 
cession, she  became  regent  of  her  second  son,  Ptolemy  VI., 
Philometor,  who  was  not  seven  years  old  when  he  began 
to  reign.  Philometor  married  his  sister,  Cleopatra  II.,  and 
was  the  last  of  the  Ptolemies  who  could  in  any  sense  be 
called  good.  His  later  years  were  clouded  by  the  rivalry 
of  his  wicked  brother  Physcon,  who  sought  the  throne. 

When  Philometor  was  killed  in  battle,  Physcon,  or  Eu- 
ergetes  II.,  laid  siege  to  Alexandria,  forced  the  widowed 
queen  Cleopatra  II.  to  marry  him,  murdered  her  young  son 
Ptolemy,  Philopator  Neos,  the  rightful  heir,  for  whom  the 
mother  had  made  a  bold  attempt  to  maintain  the  throne, 
and  reigned  as  Ptolemy  VII.  Physcon  even  married  the 
queen's  daughter,  Cleopatra  III.,  and  we  see  this  remark- 
able man  managing,  at  the  same  time,  two  ambitious 
queens,  mother  and  daughter,  who  were  probably  at  deadly 
enmity  throughout  the  period  in  which  they  were  asso- 
ciated with  him  in  the  royalty.  One  story,  almost  too 
horrible  to  obtain  credence,  tells  that  Physcon  served  up 
as  a  birthday  feast  to  the  mother,  Cleopatra  II.,  his  own 
heir  Memphitis.  When  this  wretch  finally  ended  his  days, 
Cleopatra  III.,  who  was  as  great  a  monster  of  ambition, 
selfishness,  and  cruelty  as  Physcon  himself,  seems  to  have 
murdered  her  queen-mother  and  to  have  assumed  the  reins 
of  government,  at  first  alone,  and  later  associated  with 
her  eldest  son,  Lathy rus  Soter  II.,  who  reigned  as  the 


380  WOMAN 

eighth  Ptolemy.  Lathyrus  first  married  his  sister  Cleo- 
patra IV.,  but  was  finally  compelled  by  his  mother  to 
divorce  her  and  to  marry  his  other  sister,  Selene.  He  was 
finally  turned  out  of  his  kingdom  by  his  mother,  who  de- 
sired the  accession  of  his  younger  brother,  Alexander  I., 
the  ninth  Ptolemy;  and  the  latter  repaid  her  maternal  in- 
terest in  him  by  murdering  her  as  soon  as  he  was  secure 
on  the  throne.  His  queen  was  Berenice  III.,  with  whom 
he  reigned  until  they  were  in  turn  ousted  by  Lathyrus. 
Alexander  II.,  Ptolemy  X.,  succeeded  Lathyrus,  and  mar- 
ried his  stepmother,  Berenice  III.,  whom  he  speedily  mur- 
dered, and  was  himself  put  to  death  after  a  brief  reign  of 
nineteen  days.  Ptolemy  XL,  Auletes,  an  illegitimate  son 
of  Soter  II.,  then  mounted  the  throne,  his  queen  being 
Cleopatra  V.,  Tryphaena.  He  was  the  last  and  the  weak- 
est of  the  Ptolemies,  and  is  worthy  of  mention  merely 
because  of  his  base  dealings  with  Rome,  which  introduced 
Roman  intervention  into  Egyptian  affairs,  and  because  he 
was  the  father  of  the  great  Cleopatra. 

We  have  given  this  brief  chronicle  of  the  later  kings  and 
queens  of  Egypt  to  prepare  us  for  the  consideration  of  the 
character  of  the  foremost  Egyptian  woman  of  antiquity — 
Cleopatra.  The  Ptolemies,  we  have  found,  degenerated 
steadily  and  became  in  the  end  the  most  abominable  and 
loathsome  tyrants  that  the  principle  of  absolute  and  irre- 
sponsible power  ever  produced.  Regardless  of  all  law, 
abandoned  to  the  most  unnatural  vices,  thoroughly  de- 
praved, and  capable  of  every  crime,  they  showed  utter 
disregard  of  every  virtuous  principle  and  of  every  domestic 
tie.  The  Ptolemaic  princesses  seem,  as  a  whole,  to  have 
been  superior  to  the  men.  They  usually  possessed  great 
beauty,  great  personal  charm,  and  great  wealth  and  influ- 
ence. Yet  among  them  always  existed  mutual  hatred  and 
disregard  of  all  ties  of  family  and  affection.  Ambitious  to 


THE  ALEXANDRIAN  WOMAN  381 

excess,  high-spirited  and  indomitable,  they  removed  every 
obstacle  to  the  attainment  of  power,  and  fratricide  and 
matricide  are  crimes  at  which  they  did  not  pause.  When 
the  student  of  history  sees  pass  before  him  this  dismal 
panorama  of  vice  and  crime,  he  wonders  whether  human 
nature  had  not  deserted  these  women  and  the  spirit  of  the 
tigress  entered  into  them. 

Cleopatra,  the  last  Queen  of  Egypt,  was  the  heiress  of 
generations  of  legalized  license,  of  cultured  sensuality, 
of  refined  cruelty,  and  of  moral  turpitude,  and  she  differed 
from  her  predecessors  only  in  that  she  had  redeeming 
qualities  which  offset  in  some  degree  the  wickedness  that 
she  had  inherited.  To  the  thoughtful  mind  her  character 
presents  one  of  the  most  difficult  of  psychological  problems, 
and  to  solve  the  enigma  thus  presented  we  have  to  con- 
sider her  antecedents,  her  early  training,  and  the  part 
which  she  was  compelled  to  play  in  the  world's  history. 

Her  early  years  were  spent  in  the  storm  and  turmoil  of 
the  conflict  between  her  father  Auletes  and  her  sister 
Berenice.  Ptolemy  XL,  Auletes,  called  "the  Piper/' — 
because  of  his  only  accomplishment,  his  skill  in  playing 
the  flute, — was  perhaps  the  most  degraded,  dissipated,  and 
corrupt  of  all  the  sovereigns  of  the  dynasty.  He  inspired 
his  contemporaries  with  scorn  for  his  weakness  of  char- 
acter and  with  abhorrence  for  his  vices  and  crimes.  His 
one  redeeming  trait  was  his  love  for  his  younger  children, 
and  he  seems  to  have  brought  them  up  with  every  obtain- 
able advantage  and  as  much  as  possible  removed  from  the 
turmoil  of  the  court.  For  fear  of  losing  his  kingdom,  he 
sought  recognition  from  Rome  and  paid  Caesar  enormous 
sums  of  money  for  his  patronage.  The  people  rose  in 
revolt  against  the  heavy  taxes,  and  Ptolemy  fled  to  Rome 
for  aid.  Berenice  IV.,  his  eldest  daughter,  was  raised 
to  the  throne  by  the  Alexandrians,  and  she  began  her 


382  WOMAN 

reign  in  great  splendor.  Hoping  to  strengthen  her  posi- 
tion by  marriage  with  a  royal  prince,  she  first  wedded 
Seleucus  of  Syria.  But  she  soon  found  him  not  to  her 
taste,  and  disposed  of  him  by  strangling — in  true  Ptole- 
maic fashion.  After  many  intrigues,  she  found  a  second 
husband  in  Archelaus,  a  prince  of  Asia  Minor.  She  then 
made  every  preparation  to  offer  effectual  resistance  to  her 
father.  Auletes  succeeded  in  gaining  a  hearing  at  Rome, 
and  a  Roman  army  under  Gabinius,  with  Mark  Antony 
as  his  lieutenant,  marched  against  the  forces  of  Berenice 
and  Archelaus.  After  many  battles,  the  Romans  were 
victorious.  Archelaus  was  slain;  Berenice  was  taken 
prisoner;  her  government  was  overthrown;  and  Auletes 
was  restored  to  power,  as  a  vassal  of  Rome.  Ptolemy  was 
filled  with  savage  joy  at  his  daughter's  capture,  and  at 
once  ordered  her  execution.  After  a  reign  of  three  years, 
Auletes  died,  leaving  the  kingdom  jointly  to  Cleopatra, 
now  eighteen  years  of  age,  and  her  brother  Ptolemy, 
aged  ten;  and  the  brother  and  sister,  in  obedience  to  the 
custom  of  the  Ptolemies,  were  married,  that  they  might 
rule  together. 

Amid  such  scenes  and  excitements,  a  constant  witness 
of  the  cruelty  of  her  father  and  elder  sister,  Cleopatra  had 
grown  up,  and  with  such  examples  before  her  she  entered 
upon  her  reign.  Her  training,  under  most  skilful  masters, 
had  been  of  the  broadest  character,  and  her  intellectual 
endowments  have  seldom  been  surpassed.  She  was  very 
learned,  and  is  said  to  have  mastered  eight  or  ten  lan- 
guages; so  that  she  could  address  in  his  own  tongue  who- 
ever approached  her — whether  Egyptian,  Greek,  Latin, 
Hebrew,  Arabic,  or  Syriac. 

"With  a  fondness  for  philosophy  she  united  a  love  of 
letters  as  rare  as  it  is  attractive;  and  in  the  companionship 
of  scholars  and  poets  her  mind  expanded  as  it  added  to 


THE  ALEXANDRIAN  WOMAN  383 

its  priceless  store  of  wealth.  She  was  not  only  familiar 
with  the  heroic  tales  and  traditions,  the  poetic  myths  and 
chronicles,  and  the  religious  legends,  of  ancient  Egypt,  but 
she  was  well  versed,  too,  in  the  literature  and  science  of 
Phoenicia  and  Chaldasa,  of  Greece  and  Rome;  she  was 
skilled  also  in  metallurgy  and  chemistry;  and  a  proficient 
in  astronomy  and  the  other  sciences  cultivated  in  the 
age  in  which  she  lived.  Her  skill  in  music  found  none 
to  equal  it.  Her  voice  itself  was  perfect  melody,  and 
touched  by  her  fingers  the  cithara  seemed  instinct  with 
life,  and  from  its  strings  there  rolled  a  gushing  flood  of 
glorious  symphonies.  She  was  eloquent  and  imagina- 
tive, witty  and  animated.  Her  conversation,  therefore, 
was  charming;  and  if  she  exhibited  caprice,  which  she 
sometimes  did,  it  was  forgotten  in  the  inevitable  grace  of 
her  manner." 

Essentially  Greek  in  all  her  characteristics,  she  pos- 
sessed the  wisdom  of  Athena,  the  dignity  of  Hera,  and 
the  witchery  of  Aphrodite.  An  enthusiastic  writer  has 
thus  described  her:  "She  was  tall  of  stature  and  queenly 
in  gait  and  appearance.  The  warm  sun  of  that  southern 
clime  had  tinged  her  cheek  with  a  hue  of  brown,  but  her 
complexion  was  as  clear  and  pure  as  the  serene  sky  that 
smiled  above  her  head,  and  distinctly  traced  beneath  it 
were  the  delicate  veins  filled  with  the  rich  blood  that 
danced  so  wildly  when  inflamed  with  hate  or  heated  with 
passion.  Her  eyes  and  hair  were  like  jet  and  as  glossy 
as  the  raven's  plume.  The  former  were  large  and,  as 
was  characteristic  of  her  race,  apparently  half-shut  and 
slightly  turned  up  at  the  outer  angles,  thus  adding  to  the 
naturally  arch  expression  of  her  countenance;  but  they 
were  full,  too,  of  brilliancy  and  fire.  Both  nose  and 
chin  were  small,  but  fashioned  as  with  all  the  nicety  of 
the  sculptor's  art;  and  her  pearly  teeth  nestled  lovingly 


384  WOMAN 

between  the  coral  lips  whose  kisses  were  as  sweet  as 
honey  from  the  hives  of  Hybla." 

Plutarch  expresses  himself  rather  differently  from  the 
modern  writer, — who  draws  largely  on  his  imagination, — 
and  perhaps  more  truthfully: 

"There  was  nothing  so  incomparable  in  her  beauty  as 
to  compel  admiration;  but  by  the  charm  of  her  physiog- 
nomy, the  grace  of  her  whole  person,  the  fascination  of 
her  presence,  Cleopatra  left  a  sting  in  the  soul."  Hence, 
as  has  been  said,  she  probably  possessed  not  supreme 
beauty,  but  supreme  seductiveness. 

Her  social  and  moral  qualities  at  this  time  seem  not  to 
have  been  inferior  to  her  beauty  or  her  intellectual  endow- 
ments. Falsehood  and  hypocrisy  were  foreign  to  her.  She 
gained  her  ends  by  the  winningness  of  her  disposition,  the 
melody  of  her  voice,  the  gentleness  of  her  manner.  Says 
Ebers,  who  of  modern  writers  has  drawn  the  most  attract- 
ive picture  of  her  character:  "  The  fundamental  principles 
which  dominated  this  rare  creature's  life  and  character 
were  two  ceaseless  desires:  first,  to  surpass  everyone, 
even  in  the  most  difficult  achievements;  and,  secondly, 
to  love  and  be  loved  in  return."  Ambition  and  love  were 
the  two  ruling  principles  in  her  nature  which  raised  her 
above  all  other  women  of  her  time. 

Such  was  Cleopatra  when  she  began  to  reign.  But 
neither  her  learning  nor  her  beauty  nor  the  charm  of  her 
manner  protected  her  from  the  machinations  of  the  court. 
Ptolemy  XII.,  her  boy  husband,  was  under  the  control  of 
his  tutor,  Pothinus,  who,  becoming  jealous  of  Cleopatra's 
growing  power,  organized  a  conspiracy  against  her;  and 
she  was  compelled  to  flee  to  Syria,  where  she  began  to 
raise  an  army  to  assert  her  rights.  But  a  greater  power 
now  intervened  in  the  affairs  of  Egypt.  Cassar  entered 
upon  the  scene.  Cleopatra  appealed  to  him,  and,  rolled 


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THE  ALEXANDRIAN  WOMAN  385 

in  a  bale  of  carpet,  gained  admittance  to  his  presence. 
When  the  carpet  was  unrolled  and  the  queen  appeared  to 
view,  the  great  conqueror  was  captivated  at  the  spectacle. 
She  was  now  about  twenty-one,  slender  and  graceful  and 
of  bewitching  manner.  Caesar  was  about  fifty-two,  but 
thoroughly  susceptible  to  the  charms  of  youth  and  beauty. 
He  warmly  espoused  her  cause,  and,  after  a  conflict  which 
nearly  ended  his  career,  restored  her  to  the  throne;  and 
as  Ptolemy  XII.  had  been  accidentally  drowned  in  the 
Nile,  he  associated  a  younger  brother,  Ptolemy  XIII.,  as 
her  consort  in  the  kingdom. 

This  is  perhaps  the  most  fascinating  period  in  the  life 
of  Cleopatra,  when,  just  entering  upon  her  womanhood, 
she  captivates  the  great  commander  and  becomes,  for  a 
season,  his  Aspasia.  In  Egyptian  eyes  their  union  was 
regarded  as  a  marriage,  and  the  relations  of  these  two 
never  assumed  the  grossness  and  voluptuousness  that  were 
later  exhibited  by  Antony  and  Cleopatra.  Caesar,  with  all 
his  lofty  intelligence,  no  doubt  found  in  her  one  whose  in- 
tellectual faculties  rose  to  the  level  of  his  own.  He  passed 
the  winter  in  her  company,  but  at  last  had  strength  of 
mind  enough  to  break  away  from  her  seductions,  that 
he  might  continue  his  conquests  and  establish  his  dicta- 
torship at  Rome.  When  at  the  height  of  his  power, 
he  summoned  to  Rome  Cleopatra,  with  his  young  son, 
Caesarion,  and  gave  them  a  residence  in  his  villa  on  the 
Tiber.  Here  she  lived  in  splendid  state,  and  exercised  a 
dominating  influence  over  the  ruler  of  the  world,  much  to 
the  disgust  of  the  Romans.  It  was  the  height  of  her 
ambition  to  have  Caesar  proclaim  their  son  Caesarion  his 
heir,  but  the  dictator  in  this  regard  resisted  her  allure- 
ments, and  remained  true  to  Roman  traditions.  Upon 
Caesar's  assassination,  Cleopatra,  disappointed  in  her 
fondest  hopes,  hastily  returned  to  Egypt  and  her  throne. 


386  WOMAN 

There  now  appears  a  great  change  in  the  character 
of  Cleopatra.  The  simplicity  of  nature  and  gentleness  of 
spirit  of  earlier  years  gradually  give  place  to  a  nature 
selfish,  heartless,  and  designing.  Jealous  of  her  little 
brother,  now  fast  approaching  the  age  of  fifteen,  when  he 
would  share  her  power,  she  caused  him  to  be  poisoned. 
She  was  troubled  by  no  conscientious  scruples  which 
might  interfere  with  the  fullest  and  most  unrestrained  in- 
dulgence of  every  propensity  of  her  heart.  In  all  her  sub- 
sequent life  she  showed  herself  passionate  and  ambitious, 
cunning  and  politic,  luxurious  and  pleasure-seeking. 

Cleopatra  was  in  her  twenty-ninth  year  when  she  first 
met  Antony — "a  period  of  life,"  says  Plutarch,  "when 
woman's  beauty  is  most  splendid,  and  her  intellect  is  in 
full  maturity." 

When  Antony  summoned  Cleopatra  to  appear  before 
him  at  Tarsus  to  answer  charges  brought  against  her  for 
aiding  Cassius  and  Brutus  in  the  late  war,  she,  fired  with 
the  idea  of  achieving  a  second  time  the  conquest  of  the 
greatest  general  and  highest  potentate  in  the  world,  em- 
ployed all  the  resources  of  her  kingdom  in  making  prepa- 
ration for  her  journey.  Shakespeare  has  most  admirably 
described  the  splendor  of  her  barge  and  the  scene  of 
enchantment  that  greeted  Antony  as  she  sailed  up  the 
Cydnus  to  meet  him,  a  veritable  Aphrodite  surrounded  by 
the  Graces: 


"  The  barge  she  sat  in,  like  a  burnish'd  throne, 
Burn'd  on  the  water ;  the  poop  was  beaten  gold ; 
Purple  the  sails,  and  so  perfum'd  that 
The  winds  were  love-sick  with  them :  the  oars  were  silver, 
Which  to  the  tune  of  flutes  kept  stroke,  and  made 
The  water,  which  they  beat,  to  follow  faster, 
As  amorous  of  their  strokes.    For  her  own  person, 
It  beggar'd  all  description :  she  did  lie 
In  her  pavilion  (cloth-of-gold  of  tissue) 


THE  ALEXANDRIAN  WOMAN  387 

O'er-picturing  that  Venus,  where  we  see 

The  fancy  outwork  nature :  on  each  side  her 

Stood  pretty  dimpl'd  boys,  like  smiling  Cupids, 

With  diverse-colored  fans.    .    .    . 

Her  gentlewomen,  like  the  Nereides, 

So  many  mermaids,  tended  her  \'  the  eyes. 

.    .    .    At  the  helm 

A  seeming  mermaid  steers.    .    .    . 

.    .    .    From  the  barge 

A  strange  invisible  perfume  hits  the  sense 

Of  the  adjacent  wharves.    The  city  cast 

Her  people  out  upon  her ;  and  Antony, 

Enthron'd  i'  the  market-place,  did  sit  alone, 

Whistling  to  th'  air ;  which,  but  for  vacancy, 

Had  gone  to  gaze  on  Cleopatra  too, 

And  made  a  gap  in  nature." 

Antony  was  completely  fascinated  with  her  charms. 
Her  beauty,  her  wit,  and,  above  all,  the  tact,  adroitness, 
and  self-possession  which  she  displayed  in  consenting  thus 
to  appear  before  him,  forced  him  to  yield  his  heart  almost 
immediately  to  her  undisputed  sway.  Cleopatra  remained 
at  Tarsus  for  some  time,  in  an  incessant  round  of  gayety 
and  revelry,  and  by  her  flatteries  and  caresses  she  pre- 
vailed on  Antony,  forgetful  of  his  wife  Fulvia  and  his  duty 
as  a  Roman,  to  spend  the  winter  at  Alexandria,  where  the 
pair  engaged  in  continual  feastings,  spectacles,  and  sports, 
as  well  as  in  every  species  of  riot,  irregularity,  and  excess. 
It  is  not  our  purpose  to  follow  the  well-known  career  of 
Cleopatra  during  these  years  of  turmoil,  or  to  dwell  on  the 
circumstances  that  caused  her  to  prove  the  destruction  of 
Antony's  hopes  at  the  battle  of  Actium;  neither  shall  we 
describe  in  detail  those  closing  days  when  both  committed 
suicide  rather  than  suffer  the  consequences  of  humiliation 
and  defeat. 

The  case  of  Mark  Antony  is  the  most  conspicuous  exam- 
ple in  history  of  the  complete  subjugation  by  the  arts  and 
fascinations  of  a  woman  of  a  will  stern  and  indomitable, 


388  WOMAN 

if  reckless,  and  of  a  heart  that  was  naturally  generous  and 
noble.  Cleopatra  led  him  to  betray  every  public  trust,  to 
alienate  from  himself  the  affections  of  all  his  countrymen,  to 
repel  most  cruelly  the  kindness  and  devotedness  of  a  beauti- 
ful and  faithful  wife;  and  at  last  she  led  him  away  in  a  most 
cowardly  and  ignoble  flight  from  the  field  of  duty  as  a  sol- 
dier, he  knowing  full  well  that  she  was  hurrying  him  on 
to  disgrace  and  destruction,  and  yet  being  utterly  without 
power  to  break  from  the  control  of  her  irresistible  charms. 

Yet  they  were  lovers — lovers  who  sacrificed  wealth, 
ambition,  duty,  honor,  on  the  altar  of  Aphrodite.  It  was 
a  love  which  brought  destruction;  still,  we  may  charitably 
account  for  the  weakness  exhibited  by  each  as  the  natural 
consequence  of  that  romantic  love,  than  which  history  has 
given  us  no  greater  example. 

Dire  was  the  fate  of  Cleopatra.  Hopes  all  frustrated, — 
Antony  dying  in  her  arms, — Octavius  impervious  to  all 
her  allurements, — rather  than  grace  the  conqueror's  tri- 
umph, the  most  fascinating  of  Greek  women  ended  her 
days,  according  to  the  prevailing  tradition,  by  the  bite  of 
an  asp,  in  her  thirty-ninth  year. 

Cleopatra's  character  is  a  most  fascinating  and  baffling 
study.  Of  many  faults  and  vices  she  was  guilty,  but 
they  were  characteristic  of  her  age.  Her  virtues  must 
have  been  also  many,  for  had  she  not  possessed  virtues 
she  would  not  have  been  loved  and  admired  by  all  who 
knew  her.  Her  faithful  attendants,  Iras  and  Charmion, 
sacrificed  themselves  over  her  dead  body,  and  by  their 
devotion  made  even  the  Roman  Proculius  exclaim,  in  the 
words  of  Plutarch:  "  No  other  woman  on  earth  was  ever 
so  admired  by  the  greatest,  so  loved  by  the  loftiest.  Her 
fame  echoed  from  nation  to  nation  throughout  the  world. 
It  will  continue  to  resound  from  generation  to  generation; 
but,  however  loudly  men  may  extol  the  bewitching  charm, 


THE  ALEXANDRIAN  WOMAN  389 

the  fervor  of  the  love  which  survived  death,  her  intellect, 
her  knowledge,  the  heroic  courage  with  which  she  pre- 
ferred the  tomb  to  ignominy — the  praise  of  these  two  must 
not  be  forgotten.  Their  fidelity  deserves  it.  By  their 
marvellous  end  they  unconsciously  erected  the  most  beau- 
tiful monument  to  their  mistress;  for  what  genuine  good- 
ness and  lovableness  must  have  been  possessed  by  the 
woman  who,  after  the  greatest  reverses,  made  it  seem 
more  desirable  to  those  nearest  to  her  person  to  die  rather 
than  to  live  without  her!" 

Cleopatra  was  not  a  great  queen,  regarded  as  a  ruler, 
yet  she  did  a  great  service  to  her  country  in  preserving 
its  independence  for  a  score  of  years  after  it  had  reached  its 
end  by  a  natural  process  of  degeneracy;  but  she  accom- 
plished this  end  by  the  arts  of  intrigue.  Cleopatra  was 
too  essentially  a  woman  to  be  a  great  ruler,  having  all  a 
woman's  weaknesses,  a  woman's  faults,  and  yet  withal 
the  charms  and  graces  that  make  woman  beautiful  and 
lovable.  Yet  when  we  weigh  her  character  with  due 
reference  to  the  times  in  which  she  lived,  to  the  family 
influences  which  moulded  her  early  years,  and  to  the 
degeneracy  of  the  Ptolemies  to  which  she  fell  heir,  she 
must  rank  as  one  of  the  best  of  her  dynasty.  Horace, 
the  Roman  poet,  called  Cleopatra:  "non  humilis  mulier 
[a  woman  capable  of  no  baseness];"  and  the  phrase  gains 
in  importance  from  the  fact  that  it  occurs  in  the  hymn 
which  the  poet  dedicated  to  Octavius  in  honor  of  his 
victory  over  Antony  and  Cleopatra.  In  thus  character- 
izing, in  such  an  ode,  the  victor's  foe,  Horace  gives  us  an 
estimate  of  the  "Serpent  of  the  Nile"  which  may  stand 
as  an  epitome  of  her  character  and  as  a  just  claim  to  the 
partial  respect  and  admiration  of  posterity. 

"Age  cannot  wither  her,  nor  custom  stale 
Her  infinite  variety." 


390  WOMAN 

Cleopatra's  intimate  relations  with  Rome's  greatest 
men,  and  the  conversion  of  her  kingdom  into  a  Roman 
province  after  her  death,  but  emphasize  the  fact  that  all 
Hellenistic  lands  were  at  that  time  in  the  power  of  Rome 
and  that  the  period  of  Graeco-Roman  culture  had  begun 
much  earlier.  In  B.C.  146  had  occurred  the  destruction 
of  Corinth  and  the  absorption  of  Old  Greece  into  a  part  of 
the  Roman  province  of  Macedon,  and  from  that  time  Rome 
exerted  a  marked  influence  over  the  social  life  of  Hellas. 
One  of  the  chief  characteristics  of  this  age  was  the  freer 
life  of  women  of  all  classes.  Even  in  Athens  and  Boeotia, 
the  mistress  of  the  house  obtained  her  rights  as  mother 
and  hostess.  Perhaps  it  was  in  imitation  of  what  they 
saw  in  Rome,  perhaps  it  was  merely  the  natural  process 
of  evolution,  but,  at  any  rate,  the  recognition  of  the  capa- 
bilities and  the  elevated  position  of  woman  was  general. 
Plutarch  is  the  best  chronicler  of  Greek  life  in  the  first 
century  after  the  Christian  era,  and  his  works  abound  in 
precepts  on  the  relations  of  the  sexes,  in  whose  equality 
he  was  a  firm  believer,  and  on  the  proper  training  and 
education  of  woman.  His  own  wife,  Timoxena,  paid  visits 
and  received  guests  even  when  her  husband  was  absent, 
shared  fully  the  intellectual  life  of  her  husband,  and  took 
part  in  all  his  public  interests. 

The  age  was  mending  its  manners.  New  ideas  were 
prevailing  among  men.  Woman  was  becoming  more  and 
more  fully  a  factor  in  the  world.  Yet,  for  her  complete 
emancipation,  there  was  need  of  a  new  dogma,  a  great 
revelation,  which  would  bring  about  startling  reforms  in  the 
moral  and  social  life  of  mankind.  Already  "  the  Word  had 
been  made  flesh,  and  dwelt  among  them  full  of  grace  and 
truth";  yet  the  great  writers  of  the  first  century  of  our  era, 
Dion,  Plutarch,  even  Josephus,  seem  never  to  have  heard 
of  the  new  teaching  which  had  been  preached  throughout 


THE  ALEXANDRIAN  WOMAN  391 

Asia  Minor  and  at  Athens  and  Corinth — the  new  teaching 
of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  which  was  destined  to  overturn  the 
prevailing  conception  of  woman  and  her  status  and  to 
lead  her  into  a  fulness  of  life  such  as  had  never  been 
conceived  in  the  imagination  of  even  the  most  elevated 
of  her  sex. 

In  Cleopatra  and  other  Greek  women  considered  in  the 
volume,  we  have  observed  from  time  to  time  the  high- 
est development  of  feminine  endowments,  physical,  intel- 
lectual, or  sensuous.  The  ethereal  beauty  of  Helen,  the 
poetic  fervor  of  Sappho,  the  intellectual  temper  of  Aspasia, 
the  artistic  temperament  of  Phryne,  and  the  seductive 
sensibility  of  Cleopatra — these  exhibit  phases  of  femi- 
nine perfection  that  have  not  found  their  counterparts  in 
modern  times.  Yet  in  each  instance  mentioned  there  was 
the  one  thing  needful — the  corresponding  development 
of  the  moral  and  spiritual  nature.  These  women  were  but 
pagans.  Each  sought  in  her  own  way  to  attain  the  highest 
perfection  possible  to  woman;  still,  for  them  the  truth  was 
but  seen  in  a  glass  darkly,  and  their  philosophy  had  not 
yet  taught  them  concerning  the  higher  life  of  the  spirit  as 
distinct  from  the  body. 

Yet  the  dominion  established  by  Julius  Cassar,  which 
embraced  all  the  Hellenistic  lands,  was  even  in  Cleopa- 
tra's time  preparing  the  way  for  the  dominion  of  the  Son 
of  Man,  who  brought  into  the  world  new  conceptions  of 
womanhood,  new  influences  destined  to  elevate  and  en- 
noble the  sex  and  emphasize  the  higher  elements  in  human 
character  that  the  ancients  had  so  sadly  neglected.  Pagan 
Woman  attained  unrivalled  excellence  in  physical  beauty, 
intellectual  endowment,  and  sensuous  charm;  to  Chris- 
tian Woman  was  vouchsafed  the  light  which  dispelled 
the  moral  darkness  of  antiquity  and  made  attainable  the 
highest  spiritual  excellence. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PACK 

GENERAL  INTRODUCTION V 

PREFACE xxi 

I    GREEK  WOMEN I 

II    WOMEN  OF  THE  HEROIC  AGE 17 

III  WOMEN  OF  THE  ILIAD 39 

IV  WOMEN  OF  THE  ODYSSEY 6l 

V    THE   LYRIC  AGE gi 

VI    SAPPHO     107 

VII    THE  SPARTAN  WOMAN 131 

VIII    THE  ATHENIAN  WOMAN 157 

IX    ASPASIA     191 

X    APHRODITE  PANDEMOS 205 

XI    THE  WOMAN  QUESTION  IN  ANCIENT  ATHENS 237 

XII    THE  GREEK  WOMAN  IN  RELIGION 267 

XIII  GREEK  WOMEN  AND  THE  HIGHER  EDUCATION 297 

XIV  THE  MACEDONIAN  WOMAN 329 

XV    THE  ALEXANDRIAN   WOMAN 359 


G.  W 


393 


Eist  of  I-llustratums 


Aspasia Hatty  Holiday    ....    Fronts. 

Circe Hairi  P.  Matte 80 

Sappho  in  her  school  of  poetry  in 

Lesbos Hector  Lerowt 120 

The  Grecian  toilette From  a*  antique  vase   •  -   -  176 

Phryne -.   .   .   .  Henry  /.  SJemtradtky    .   .   .  232 

Cleopatra Alexamdre  Cabamel    ....  384 


595 


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